


Haunted

by Dixxy



Category: Dangan Ronpa
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Dangan Ronpa & Super Dangan Ronpa 2 Spoilers, F/F, F/M, Gen, Multi, post death reunion
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-30
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-01-21 10:10:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 106,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1546952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dixxy/pseuds/Dixxy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the heart stops beating a person is supposed to be dead and a soul is supposed to move on to the afterlife. But there is no rest for the victims of Hope's Peak Academy's School Life of Mutual Killing, haunting the school one by one with no resting in peace to be found as their memories are returned to them and they realize the true horror of what's been going on. That should be bad enough, but it's not long before the ghosts realize they aren't the only spirits roaming the halls, they still can't leave, and now they're being hunted. </p><p>With despair taking over even beyond the grasp of death as the situation gets worse with no sign of anything getting better, is there any hope at all, even if it's coming from an unexpected source?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Toy Soldiers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mukuro might be having a few second thoughts about the School Life of Mutual Killing, but she's too afraid to disappoint Junko.

Haunted

By Dixxy Mouri

Prologue: Toy Soldiers

 

                Two flickering monitors were displaying the live feed from the classrooms on the first floor where the last remnants of Class 78 were being held. The screens were small and blurry and didn’t display color, but the picture was clear enough to see who was who and not an inch of either room was out of their line of sight. Supposedly, this was going to be one of the greatest victories secured by the organization known as Super High School Level Despair – so much of Japan’s hope rested on the shoulders of these fourteen students, but Junko Enoshima was going to crush that hope into beautiful, terrifying despair.

                Mukuro Ikusaba was watching them, trying to drum up an emotion about what she was witnessing. Her classmates had been temporarily detained in classrooms, the doors locked shut while Junko made the final preparations to begin the School Life of Mutual Killing. They’d given up trying to break the doors down for the moment, both groups taking relatively similar actions by gathering in circles in the middle of their respective rooms as they awaited their fates.

                _I’m sorry, everyone_ , she thought.

                Junko yawned, running the last tests on the first of dozens of Monokuma robots. Of course they needed to make sure they were all in good working order, Mukuro supposed, seeing as they would be the primary avatar through with Junko would be interacting with their friends. A third screen flicked on – it depicted Headmaster Jin Kirigiri, tied up and blindfolded inside of a rocket with the bear’s head sitting on top of the nose. Junko laughed merrily. “T-minus five minutes until rocket launch,” she cheered in a sing-song voice.

                “Rocket launch?” asked Mukuro. _I didn’t know anything about a rocket launch._

                “Yeah. We’re launching Headmaster Kirigiri into the sky!” Junko cheered giddily. She grinned. “We have to get rid of him if we’re going to be able to get to our classmates – as long as he’s around there’s hope for them to escape, even if it’s into our world of despair, and we can’t have that, now can we?”

                “But what about-”

                Junko turned on her with wild eyes as she began to yell. “SHUT UP! I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP ABOUT THAT!” Mukuro swallowed – normally Junko loved being miserable, but this wasn’t despair, this was anger, and they were very, very different. Her little sister took a deep breath, composed herself, and continued on as if nothing had incited an incident between the twins at all. “And this is what I’ve decided on. He’s going to go for a little trip into outer space, but the rocket’s re-entry will incinerate him.” She pressed a button. “And of course we get to watch our dear classmates watch the whole thing. See? They’re seeing what’s on Screen #3.”

                Mukuro looked back at the monitor and saw the others crowding around the monitors she’d set up in the classrooms for this purpose. There was no audio, but she could see shock and horror on all of their faces. A few of them were yelling or pointing at the screen. Strangely, or perhaps not strangely, Kyouko Kirigiri seemed to be reacting the least of all.

                _She’s in shock or doesn’t know what’s happening,_ Mukuro thought. Then again, none of them probably did – all they were looking at was the image on that third monitor. Sure, they all knew _something_ was up by now, and enough of her sister’s precious despair had set in that they probably expected the worst, but they still didn’t know what.

                Mukuro continued to watch. A countdown appeared on the third monitor.

                She watched them begin to react. The two couples (Sayaka Maizano and Leon Kuwata, and Aoi Asahina and Sakura Oogami) held hands and exchanged worried looks. Touko Fukawa passed out – Byakuya Togami caught her and made some sort of order, probably for water or for someone to help him with her. Taeko Yasuhiro had covered her eyes, and Yasuhiro Hagakure was frantically yelling at his crystal ball. Hifumi Yamada was frozen in fear. Mondo Oowada was getting visibly angry and possibly on the verge of hitting something, while Chihiro Fujisaki was trying to calm him down, but to no avail. Kiyotaka Ishimaru was trying to establish order in his room.  Makoto Naegi had his hands over his mouth.

                Kirigiri was still a blank slate.

                “And five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . . one . . .”

                The third monitor showed Monokuma press a button, and the rocket sealed itself. It blasted off, lifting higher and higher into the sky, were it was gone for several minutes. The students were starting to panic even more than they had before – where had their headmaster gone? What was that rocket, anyways?

                Kirigiri was still unflinching.

                Junko grabbed the Monokuma mike. “Check it out, you bastards! The rocket’s on its way back!”

                The rocket crashed back down, and the doors opened.

                Headmaster Kirigiri’s skeleton fell out in pieces.

                This was what finally broke the younger Kirigiri. She began to scream and cry, rushing towards the monitor in her room. The six students in the room with her (Naegi, Kuwata, Maizono, Oowada, Fujisaki, and Ishimaru) surrounded her, embracing their frantic friend. Those in the other classroom (except for Fukawa, who was still passed out, and Togami, who was still trying to care for her) rushed to the wall separating them and began banging on it.

                Junko cackled and clapped, spinning around in her chair, and Mukuro turned to her. This was, perhaps, the most satisfied she’d seen her sister, but it still didn’t feel . . . right. It was a little horrifying. “What was that for?” Mukuro asked. “They’re not going to remember any of this anyways – why did you need to do that?”

                “Why, my dear sister, has seeing our friends distress given you a taste of despair?”

                While she was probably right, Mukuro still didn’t think _this_ was necessary. “Again – why?”

                “Because they _aren’t_ going to remember and this was our last chance to watch them give a shit about the headmaster,” said Junko. “Besides, if we’re going to instill false hope in them by destroying their memories, they need to hit rock bottom first.” Junko stopped spinning and crossed her legs as she grabbed the Monokuma microphone. “And we do that by killing the one person they think is going to protect them.”

                “You think they’re in despair?” Mukuro asked.

                “No, this isn’t despair. Not _true_ despair. Oh sure they’re upset, especially our little detective girl, but we can do soooo much better,” she said. “But first, let’s fuck with them a little bit, shall we? We’re not going to get a chance to mess with them like this after their brains get scrambled, so we need to do this while we can.” She flipped a switch on the console, and audio from the two rooms spilled into the control room.

                “ _Papa . . . PAPA!!!_ ”

                “ _Oh God, Kyouko, Headmaster . . .”_

_“What the fuck?! WHAT THE FUCK DID WE JUST WATCH!?”_

Junko grinned. “Hey bastards, did you enjoy the show?”

                “ _Who is that!? Who are you?”_

_“Two of our friends are missing – what did you do with Junko and Mukuro?”_

Junko’s face lit up and she looked at her sister with a deranged grin. Mukuro tried to smile back.

                “Oh, I’ll tell you all right!” Junko flipped a switch on the microphone. Her gaze darkened, and for a moment Mukuro was a little frightened of her. “We’ve been watching you all the whole time from the super duper top secret Super High School Level Despair Monokuma Control Room!” She cackled in the microphone, spinning in her chair.

                “ _JUNKO!?”_

Junko snorted. “You idiots couldn’t figure out Super High School Level Despair had infested your precious little academy? _Morons!_ ” Mukuro winced as a selection of very choice words were lobbied at her sister, primarily from Mondo and Leon, but a few of their classmates surprised her (seriously, where did Chihiro pick up that language?). “Now, now, the fun is just beginning!”

                “ _Fun? We just watched you kill Master Kyouko Kirigiri’s father! That’s not fun!”_

“Oh, ho, ho, but aren’t you guys excited to be on television?” Junko said.

                “ _Television? What the hell are you talking about?”_

“You’re all television stars now! It’s a new reality television show!”

                “ _Mukuro hasn’t said anything yet – maybe she’s there with her sister.”_

                “ _MUKURO! MUKURO, CAN YOU HEAR ME!? ARE YOU OKAY?”_

“You dumbasses, she helped me set this all up,” said Junko. She snorted. “And don’t interrupt me, I’m not done talking about your television show. You don’t even know the _title_ yet. You should probably know the _title_.” She threw her head back, leaned back in her chair, and grinned wickedly. “I’m calling ‘School Like of Mutual Killing’! Isn’t that a great title?”

                “ _What the . . . what the fuck does that mean?!”_

“It’s a game show. See, the prize is leaving the school.”

                “ _We don’t want to leave the school – that was the point of the last year!”_

_“I don’t know, this place isn’t that great right now. . .”_

Junko shook her head. “No, no, no, the prize is pretty sweet, and the game is pretty simple! Check this out. See, you all get to spend the rest of your lives in here, trapped in the school . . . unless you kill one of your fellow classmates. Then if you get away with it, everyone else dies and you get to graduate!”

                “ _I stand corrected – staying in here is an AWESOME idea.”_

_“You’re never going to get us to do that! We’re not going to kill our friends!”_

“Oh, oh you haven’t heard the best part. See, I’m going to arrange for your precious memories of the last two years to be erased,” said Junko. “You’re going to forget you were ever friends or lovers, and you’re going to forget that you’re locked in this school for your own protection. You’re going to forget about everything that’s going on outside.”

                “ _. . . wait, what?”_

Junko chuckled. “The last thing I’ve arranged for all – well, most of you to remember, is the first step you took on campus as a student here. Back when the world was all rainbows and sunshine or whatever the hell you bastards miss so much. So you’re going to wake up in a school with complete strangers, locked up tight with no way to get out.”

                _“If we don’t remember we’re friends . . . and we don’t know the world’s ended . . .”_

Mukuro watched as despair spread throughout her classmates. She felt a pit in her stomach.

_“GET ME OUT OF HERE!”_

_“I STAND CORRECTED AGAIN! THIS PLACE IS DEFINITELY NOT AWESOME!”_

_“MUKURO! DO SOMETHING!”_

Mukuro was surprised to see, one by one, her classmates turn to the cameras in their room. “ _Mukuro, come on! You can’t let Junko do this! Help us!”_ That was Naegi, looking up at the camera in desperation. Of course he was going to be the one to lead their last ditch effort to get out of this. While it was true he probably didn’t have anything reminiscent of the Super High School Level Good Luck that brought him into the school, he had something else that was perhaps even more valuable.

                “ _Remember the good times we had! Please, Mukuro! You can’t let Junko get away with this! We’re your friends! Don’t do this!”_ She stared in horror at the screens. Why did they all have faith in her? What did they expect her to do, especially against Junko? They all knew she couldn’t say no to Junko, no matter how miserable it made her! Why were they all asking for her help? What could she do?

                Junko wheeled her chair over to her. “Mukuro, you don’t want to disappoint me, do you?”

                Mukuro hung her head. No, she didn’t.

                “ _MUKURO!_ ”

 

                Two hours later, her classmates were receiving the procedure. There was a lot of kicking and fighting and yelling and screaming as they were dragged off one by one. Special measures were taken for some of them that they expected would be trouble (namely Oowada and Oogami, though they were very careful with Fukawa), though there some unpleasant surprises. Ishimaru put up a hell of a fight (“Oh yeah . . . didn’t Captain Eyebrows do kendo or some stupid shit?” Junko has asked while watching the fight play out), and Fujisaki showed no fear in using teeth. Asahina and Kuwata both managed to get away and led the other members of Super High School Level Despair on a little chase around the building for a bit, but they were eventually detained. The worst was Yasuhiro, who’d actually managed to gouge someone’s eye out with that finger armor of hers.

                Junko looked over at her recording equipment. “Hmm. I didn’t think she had it in her.”

                “They’re all fighting for their lives,” said Mukuro. “This is self-preservation.”

                “And they’re going to need that in spades once the game begins.”

                “Excuse me?”

                “Self-preservation is the name of the game. How much are you willing to sacrifice to save your own hide? How much blood are you willing to get on your hands for a breath of fresh air?” Junko smirked. “Kill or be killed, but not without a risk of its own. We should take some bets on who we think is going to cave first . . . provided they don’t _get_ killed before they get the chance. I wasn’t going to say her, but now I’m not so sure. She’s feistier than I thought.”

                “Well who were you thinking?”

                “Well Corndog Head’s got some anger issues but the two people who are best able to keep in check aren’t going to remember how. If anything I’m hoping he kills one or both of them,” said Junko. Mukuro swallowed. “Oh come on now – we’re going to be outlining everyone’s actual relationships to the audience! If we’re lucky we’ll have one or both of the lovebird pairs off each other, yeah?”

                “That’s awful,” said Mukuro.

                “That’s the point, idiot,” said Junko.

                Mukuro grimaced and returned her gaze to the screen displaying her friends as their memories were erased. All she could do was watch now. Watch as the only friends she’d ever had were taken away from her. She swallowed, gripping her chair as she watched. It was halfway done for most of them by now – Kirigiri was going to be undergoing additional erasure, as Junko was concerned was a Super High School Detective might be capable of if allowed to keep those memories as well.

                _That’s it, huh? The last two years are gone. Just like that._

                Mukuro was interrupted by Junko dropping the wig into her lap. _Oh. Right. My part of the plan._ Her sister had explained that she wanted someone to be watching their classmates more closely, but having a soldier in the mix might not be the best option. “I’d start getting ready – it takes a long time for me to do my makeup and you’ve got to get changed as well.”

                “Okay, but . . .” Mukuro studied the wig for another moment before looking up at her sister. “I have a question. My instructions are a little vague beyond that scene with Monokuma after the first murder . . . why is that?” she asked. Junko looked at her with a serious expression, and Mukuro wondered what was going to follow. Certainly she’d been given her script – she knew what to say, she knew a trap door was going to open up beneath her and drop her into an underground chamber . . . but aside from that she was lost. All it saw was “take away their hope and spread despair”. How was she supposed to do that?

                “We won’t know until the first murder happens. I can’t make further plans until I know exactly who’s left and who’s not,” she said flatly. “I mean, we really don’t know. At all. We can guess who might be the first to crack and who won’t last long but in the end . . . we don’t know. Especially once they get access to poison – it could allow one of the little ones to take out someone much, much bigger than they are, you know?”

                That seemed like an acceptable answer. “Oh. Okay,” said Mukuro.

               

                For the first several days, things were . . . as calm as could be expected. No one suspected they were surrounded by their dearest friends. No one suspected that Junko Enoshima was actually someone else, although someone asked why she looked different from her modeling pictures, and Mukuro had to quickly come up with an excuse involving photoshop.

                No one remembered Mukuro Ikusaba existed.

                Which, Mukuro supposed, was all according to plan. She felt pretty miserable about the whole thing – this was the despair that Junko loved so much, but all it made Mukuro feel was sick to her stomach. She didn’t like people calling her “Enoshima-san” or “Junko-chan” or whatever else they thought they should be calling her. She missed the sound of her own name.

                Which was strange, really. Soldiers didn’t have much of an identity in Fenrir – they weren’t supposed to. You followed orders unless you gained rank, at which point you were the one giving the orders. You didn’t wear anything that stood out. You didn’t wear makeup or jewelry (though some jewelry, Mukuro reasoned, would be very dangerous on the battlefield). Your hair was kept short, your nails neatly trimmed. There was no identity.

                Mukuro didn’t have one until Hope’s Peak Academy came calling for her and her sister. She wasn’t just a soldier anymore – she was Mukuro Ikusaba, Super High School Level Soldier. Her classmates recognized her as a soldier, but they didn’t treat her like one – they treated her as a friend, as a person, as someone unique and different and not just another gear in the clockwork of her unit.

                After they’d been given the “motivational DVDs” Junko had prepared for them, Mukuro returned to her room. They were cruel device. Just enough information had been pieced together to let them know “something bad” had happened to their loved ones, and that much was the truth. What Junko had left out, of course, was that they were all dead from a worldwide crisis and everyone was better off staying inside and away from the chaos. They didn’t have any loved ones to return to – everyone else’s loved ones had been dead for close a year and the Oogami family dojo had finally been overtaken after a year of fending off the despair. The only possible survivor was Naegi’s little sister, but a girl out there all by herself for this long? She was most likely long dead by now.

                Maizono seemed to have the strongest reaction to the DVD, which showed her the aftermath of the tragedy that killed the other members of her pop idol group. That had been . . . interesting. Certainly everyone had been horrified, but her having the biggest freakout? Mukuro didn’t think someone so cheerful and bubbly would be the first to fall into despair.

                Not that it mattered. There was no guarantee it was going to drive the little pop idol to kill.

                Mukuro collapsed into the chair at her desk and ripped off her wig, tossing it towards the bed and leaned forward, studying her reflection. Even now, with her real hair, she still didn’t look quite like herself. All the makeup wasn’t her – the fake eyelashes, the lipstick, the blush and eyeshadow and foundation and fake nails . . . none of it was really her, but it was all Junko. It was exactly what they wanted for the plan, but left Mukuro feeling like an empty shell.

                This wasn’t what she had pictured despair would feel like.

 

                Maizono’s body was discovered the following morning when she didn’t show up for breakfast. After someone realized there were only fifteen of them in the cafeteria, Naegi panicked and ran from the room to check on her. Minutes later, his blood curdling scream could be heard and everyone headed in the direction of the scream to see what had happened.

                There she was, lifeless in the shower room with a knife protruding from her stomach.

                No one reacted well, and maybe only half of them heard Monokuma cheerfully announce that there would be a class trial. Kuwata spoke up, asking what a class trial was, and it was all Mukuro needed to piece together was had happened. She’d seen those eyes before, the eyes of someone who’d taken a life. It was mixed with fear and uncertainty, but she was convinced.

                Leon Kuwata had murdered Sayaka Maizono.

                This was EXACTLY how Junko had wanted things to play out. She didn’t just want the students to kill each other, oh no – she wanted them to kill the ones they were the closest to. She wanted to see Fujisaki slip poison into the water of an unsuspecting Oowada and Ishimaru. She wanted to see Oogami strangle a helpless, pleading Asahina. She wanted to see Genocider Syo finally give in to her desire to drain the blood of Togami.

                Kuwata stabbing Maizono was _precisely_ the kind of murder Junko had salivated over.

                Now they just needed to see if he was going to get away with it.

 

                For the first time in her life, Mukuro didn’t see it coming.

                For the last time in her life, Mukuro didn’t see it coming.

                It happened so quickly, she didn’t even have time to process the pain. All she could see was the blood and the spears protruding from her body. She lifted her hand, covered in her own blood . . . so much blood. “Why . . .”

                Several of the spears disappeared, and Mukuro’s body dropped to the floor.

                But Mukuro . . . didn’t. She remained standing in place as the spear disappeared back to where they’d come from, the other students screaming around her, screaming for the like of Junko Enoshima. Mukuro, still shaking, looking down to see her impaled body lying in an ever-expanding pool of blood. “But . . . but . . .”

                She lifted her hands, horrified to see they were transparent. She turned them over and examined herself – her whole body was like that, partially see through like a reflection in a window. She stepped back – she felt “off”, like she was too light, and something was missing from her being. The sensation of air in her lungs. The taste of saliva in her mouth. The rush of blood through her veins.

                The beating of her heart.

                Mukuro Ikusaba was dead, nothing but a ghost haunting the halls of Hope’s Peak Academy.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DING DANG DING DONG! Author’s announcements!
> 
> Hello Dangan Ronpa fandom! Even after all these years as a fanfic author (I’m Tumblr old, okay?) I still feel the need to introduce myself when I start writing for a new fandom. My name is Dixxy Mouri and as I’ve already stated, I’m not new to the fanfiction game – check my profile if you want more details 
> 
> So a few things I wanted to get out of the way:
> 
> Thing One: Yeah, I’m using song titles as a chapter naming scheme. You’ll see a mix of stuff because my interests get pretty eclectic. I’ll have some sort of write up for each song in the Author’s Announcements section, especially since one song title could reference multiple songs. Most chapters are going to have several working titles as I try to figure out what song will work best, a.k.a. I really don’t want to have to use “In the End” by Linkin Park but right now it’s the most fitting song I’ve found for one chapter and that bugs the shit out of me since NOTHING says “crappy mid-2005 AMV” like that song. 
> 
> Thing Two: Chihiro’s gender. I have seen some of the arguments erupt over this and it can get ugly. So I talked it over with a friend of mind and the consensus we came to was female pronouns since that was what she preferred in the game, so I’ll be treating Chihiro as a transwoman (meaning male at birth but prefers to identify as female). If you don’t agree with this interpretation I ask you to respectfully refrain from flaming the comments, reviews, or any of my online inboxes. 
> 
> Thing Three: Naming consistency. This is PROBABLY the thing that will be the most inconsistent as I don’t have everyone’s name usage down yet so please bear with me if it’s a little shaky at first, but note that certain events may cause a character to begin referring to others differently on purpose. 
> 
> Song Choice: Originally it was going to be “High Hopes” by Pink Floud, but I wasn’t quite sure it fit and came across “Toy Soldiers” by Martika in my iTunes playlist, though “High Hopes” may very well show up later if I find a use for it. Anyways, the prologue has a little bit of Mukuro questioning Junko and whether or not she really wants to hurt her classmates. 
> 
> Mukuro’s interesting to me because I think her character is still shrouded in a kind of mystery. While she certainly isn’t an UNWILLING participant in everything that happened, I’m not sold that she did it all out of lust for despair like Junko did, but more out of a desire to please her sister as well as having spent years being put down, bullied, and abused.
> 
> Dixxy


	2. Remember the Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sayaka makes a last ditch effort to save a boy she doesn't know . . . only to remember he's one of her best friends, and the man who put a knife in her stomach is the person she loves most. Scared and alone, Sayaka has a lot to learn about being dead.

Haunting the Halls

By Dixxy Mouri

Chapter One: Remember the Time

 

                It had been a stupid, terrible idea.

                The two of them were standing there in Naegi’s shower stall, close enough to feel each other’s breath on their necks. Sayaka’s eyes were wide, choking on a cry that had died in the back of her throat. It was over. Her stupid, terrible plan was over. She’d been stabbed in the gut, and even if someone found her before she died, there was no way they’d be able to get help for her in time. She was going to die, and she realized she had no one to thank but herself.

                Kuwata backed away from her, his eyes wide in shock. “I . . . I . . .”

                Sayaka stared at him, unsure of what to think of him. She settled on pity. This hadn’t been his idea, after all. If she hadn’t invited him here, he probably would have just stayed in his room, and maybe this wouldn’t have happened. She wouldn’t be dying in a shower room with a broken wrist and a kitchen knife sticking out of her stomach. Kuwata wouldn’t have panicked and killed her. Monokuma wouldn’t have gotten his way. Their eyes met once more before he fled the bathroom.

                She looked out into the room. Naegi’s room.

                _Naegi . . ._

                _Naegi’s going to get blamed for this._

                Sayaka decided she needed to do something as her vision began to get blurry. Naegi didn’t deserve what was going to happen to him once she was found. He’d been trying to do right by her, even if she had been using him. She didn’t want to die like that, leaving him high and dry to take the blame. Sayaka was fading quickly, but she wasn’t going to let Naegi take the fall for Leon. She’d been wrong to stray down this path, and this was all she could do to make things right. She ran her hand over her wound – her fingers were coated with warm, sticky blood. It would have to do.

                She scrawled her killer’s name on the wall behind her. _There._

Her vision was getting worse. She was losing a lot of blood. She could barely make out shapes anymore as she coughed up blood. Sayaka was too weak to move anymore. _I’m sorry everyone . . . I’m sorry I couldn’t get out of here to save you . . . I love you all . . . and I’m so sorry . . ._

_. . . I’m sorry . . ._

Sayaka slumped to the floor and closed her eyes for the last time . . .

                . . . and promptly opened them again.

                Sayaka was confused. She wasn’t in pain anymore; in fact, she felt fine. She stumbled to her feet, and it slowly began to dawn on her that something felt horribly wrong. Her body didn’t hurt, but it didn’t feel right. She looked down at her hands and froze.

                They were transparent.

                Sayaka stood there in shock as she realized what was going on. She spun around and screamed at the sight before her. At her feet, leaning against the wall of Naegi’s shower, was her corpse, blood still oozing from her stomach. Sayaka fell on her behind and scrambled out into the bedroom, still screaming.

                Sayaka Maizono was dead.

                Was this the afterlife? Having to look at your own dead body? She grabbed her head and began to shake it. “No, no, no! This isn’t real, this isn’t real!” she wailed, feeling something that almost felt like tears streaming down her cheeks. This all had to be a nightmare! Everything was some sort of horrible bad dream! Monokuma and this horrible game and the love of her life hurting her and-

                _. . . the . . . love of my life?_

                Sayaka heard a grunting noise and turned to see Kuwata . . . no, _Leon_ trying to clean up the room. She studied him for a moment. _Love of my life? Where did that come from?_ They’d only met a few days ago when they’d woken up in the school and Monokuma told them they couldn’t leave unless they killed someone, so why did she think . . .

                . . . no, no that was . . . wrong.

                Sayaka recalled a different first meeting with the others . . . two years earlier. At first the only person she wanted to spend time with was Naegi – she didn’t know anyone else at all, but they at least knew each other by sight from their old middle school, and to say that their classmates weren’t getting along was an understatement.

                _Why did I forget all of this?! Why did **any** of us forget all of this!?_

It made as much sense as it didn’t. Everyone’s memories had been erased . . . somehow. They’d forgotten why they had sealed themselves inside of the school, and Monokuma was using that to get them to kill each other. _If we don’t remember that we’re supposed to stay here . . . and we don’t know there’s nothing for us outside . . . and all that we have is each other . . ._

If she’d still had a stomach, it would have been turning.

                Sayaka got to her feet and woozily walked over to where Leon was running a lint roller over the carpet in Naegi’s room. What was she going to do now? “Leon?” she asked. No answer. Of course not, she was a ghost. She bent over and tried to touch him – her hand passed right through him. Of course it did – she was a ghost. Of course he couldn’t see her or hear her or any of that.

                _I’m dead, after all._

                She remembered Leon being one of the more outgoing students when they all first met . . . their first real meeting . . . unless he was around her, then he’d get really quiet, and she assumed that he didn’t like her. He clearly had some sort of punk rock affinity and she had earned her spot in the school with idol pop music – of course he wouldn’t like her, she was the antithesis of punk rock. It wasn’t until a few weeks later, in music class, that he dedicated a song to her and she realized he’d simply been too nervous around her to say anything. He’d ended the song by asking her out, gotten detention for the gesture, and then Sayaka purposely got herself detention for defending him.

                It was around that time that things began to fall in place for everyone, and by the end of that first month they were all finally friends . . . and in some cases, a little more than friends. She and Leon weren’t the only ones who’d started dating, and before long she found herself on a double date with Sakura and Aoi.

                Sayaka remembered the first time they’d kissed – she’d been shy about it, rejecting all of his previous attempts, and it wasn’t until they’d been caught in the rain on their way home from a movie that it had happened. Leon loved big romantic gestures, and something about that afternoon, despite getting thoroughly soaked through by the sudden downpour, had been perfect.

                She remembered the first time he met her father – Dad hadn’t paid much attention to him and while he didn’t disapprove, he didn’t seem to care much either way. Things had gone better with the other members of her band – they’d fussed over him with a variety of opinions ranging from “aw, he’s so cute” and “you guys are going to make such a great couple” and “I will cut you with a rusty spoon if you make her cry”.

                She remembered Leon introducing her to the other players on his baseball team. They’d all been very nice, if a bit rowdy. They’d had pizza in the team’s meeting room. Sayaka knew Leon hadn’t ever really liked baseball, but it was clear he loved his teammates and she suspected he’d kept at it for so long for their sake.

                And then the World’s Most Despair Inducing Incident happened.

                Their homeroom had been one of the only classes that survived. There had been lots of screaming from outside, and the teacher on duty ordered everyone under their desks before she blocked off the door with a chair. As the screams got louder, Sakura and Mondo shoved a bookcase in front of the door. Everyone was shuddering in fear, although the wrestler and the biker were trying to keep strong faces for everyone else – she was positive those closest to them could see the truth, however. Sayaka remembered trembling in the back corner with Leon (who was holding her tightly and trying to reassure her they were going to make it), Naegi, Celes, and Yamada.

                Hours later, Headmaster Kirigiri found them – he’d started to cry, thankful to find more survivors, but completely fell to pieces when he saw his daughter was among the living. They’d found out that the rest of Class 78 and most of the 77th and 76th classes had also been wiped out, save a handful from each, and the _entire_ study body from the reserve school had been destroyed. No one believed him at first – as bad as things sounded outside, that was completely crazy. There was no way that many students had been killed in the incident. The reserve class was around two thousand students – surely they couldn’t all be dead?

                But it was true. The sixteen from their homeroom and about twenty-five combined from the other classes. All of the survivors were rounded up in the gymnasium, the teachers searched the building, and then the school was put on temporary lockdown while the situation outside was assessed. The headmaster told them he was going to do his best to find out whether or not their familes were safe and let them know once he know.

                Someone had asked what he meant, and they learned that despair was spreading not only throughout their school, but throughout the rest of the country, and there was a very real danger that the rest of the world would be infected soon enough. Had this happened in a different time things could have been isolated, but the speed at which information traveled across the internet and through cell phones may have doomed the world. Forum posts. Text messages. Videos and images were flooding the air around them, pushing this message of ultimate despair on the world around them.

                That was the nature of this monster that was slowly destroying all they knew.

                One by one, the students of Class 78 learned they had been orphaned by a series of tragic events. Sayaka and Leon had been the first to find out. Headmaster Kirigiri paged them to his office, and for a moment the two were nervous he was going to accuse them of making out in the music room (. . . again, but this time they were _sure_ that they hadn’t been caught and besides, the last time had been before the World's Most Despair Inducing Incident and didn’t everyone have bigger problems?). They held hands, giving each other foreboding looks as they entered the office.

                But the headmaster gave them no accusatory looks, and the environment was almost welcoming. There was a platter of cookies on his desk, a teapot, and empty teacups and saucers. He rose from his desk and invited them to sit down, which they did, unsure of what was going on. At the very least it didn’t seem like they were in trouble, but something seemed very wrong about this meeting.

                Headmaster Kirigiri explained that he had begun efforts to find out how everyone’s loved ones had been doing in the crisis outside, in the event a student wished to return home to be with their loved ones. Sayaka remembered getting a sick to her stomach feeling and Kuwata squeezing her hand. He said that, normally, he would break the news to a student on their own, but knew that they were dating and thought that it would be good for both of them to find out together.

                Sayaka’s band and her father were gone.

                Kuwata’s baseball team and his parents were gone.

                Sayaka hadn’t been sure how to react. They were both at a loss for words as the headmaster told them he was going to do everything in his power to protect them from harm. He told them about the shelter plan, and how he was going to provide all of the students with a safe place to stay while they waited out the crisis outside.

                It only got worse from there. Stories began to spread about how everyone else’s loved ones had been affected. It was a nightmare no one could wake up from. After Chihiro, the fourth to find out, had been paged to the headmaster’s office, everyone began to dread hearing their name on the intercom. Asahina had refused to go until Sakura said she would go with her. Yamada burst out crying the moment he heard his name, already knowing it was bad news. Togami had been cocky, believing his family to be invincible, but he completely broke down for several days once he learned that not only was his entire family gone but also _everyone they associated with_ – someone out there didn’t want to leave a trace of the Togami group alive, and now only he remained. Celes had been in denial, insisting everything was “fine”, even when people were not asking her what had happened, until she collapsed in the middle of the cafeteria, sobbing uncontrollably.

                Just to name a few.

                And things outside were getting worse. Someone always had a TV on or a RSS feed on a computer. People wearing masks that bored the face of what Sayaka now recognized as Monokuma were marching through the streets – it was very likely that these people had been responsible for most of the murders of their loved ones. National landmarks all across the globe were being torn down or defaced to bear the visage of that evil bear. Death and destruction everywhere, with only a few strongholds remaining as the days went by.

                Hope’s Peak Academy was converted into a shelter a month after the initial incident.

                A shelter they might never leave.

                That was right . . . it had been about a year since she or any of her classmates had been outside. The headmaster had allowed them all over hour outside before they sealed the front door. They’d all stuck together, too afraid to venture very far out, and it seemed unlikely the headmaster would have allowed it anyways. Not that it mattered; most of them were orphaned by the World’s Most Despair Inducing Incident so where would they go?

                The last thing any of them had done outside was a big group hug, promising each other they’d find a way to get through this and they would always be there for each other. Then they’d all slowly filed into the school, and watched at the massive steel door sealed them inside. Several of them burst out crying when the last sliver of sunlight was gone (herself included), and those who’d kept their composure tried to do what they could for the others.

                No one talked much that first week, though there was a lot of crying as they mourned . . . everything. Parents. Siblings. Aunts and uncles and cousins and friends and teachers and classmates, even people they didn’t really know but saw every day anyways – the old man who sold takoyaki two blocks to the west of their campus, the old woman who paid them with packs of gum if they did yard work for her, the gay couple who passed the school on their morning jog, the stray cat who was always trying to follow them into the school . . . all of them were gone, and with them the world they knew. Even if the world wasn’t perfect, and it wasn’t, it was all that any of them had ever known and now it was gone, replaced by chaos and destruction. Some students put on a strong face, but had complete breakdowns when they thought they were alone or with someone they were particularly close to.

                There were still classes at first – ostensibly it was to ensure that they were all still getting an education for when the crisis passed and however much time they spent in the school wouldn’t be wasted. In reality, everyone knew it was a distraction from what was going on, a feeble attempt to try and keep their hopes up and give them something resembling a normal routine. It was a school, after all, and they were students, but many of the teachers had been killed in the incident and the handful who were left weren’t able to teach a wide range of subjects. They tried to wing it to give them variety, but it was no use – their math teacher didn’t know history very well, and the chemistry teacher was no substitute for the music teacher.

                Over time it got harder and harder to concentrate and focus. About half of them stopped coming to classes, and those who still went were getting glassy eyed, their minds elsewhere; their dead parents, families, and friends; the life goals they wanted to accomplish that simply didn’t exist anymore; and the sorry state of the world crumbling outside of the school walls. The headmaster finally cancelled classes about two months in, but it was an almost meaningless gesture; really, classes had been over since day one. 

                As the months passed, the outside world didn’t look like it was getting any better, and they all began to wonder if they really were going to grow old and die in the school after all. Most of their dreams were dead anyways. At best, Sakura’s dojo, last they heard, had avoided most of the despair by virtue of being somewhat isolated, and Naegi’s little sister was _missing_ – having the _possibility_ that _maybe_ someone you loved was still alive was something almost none of them had.

                The realization that this situation really _wasn’t_ going to end prompted Sayaka and Leon to take a risk and spend the night together, and not just by means of falling asleep with a late running movie or passing out in the library after studying until three in the morning (which happened to everyone from time to time, especially Kiyotaka - it wasn’t unusual for Mondo to be carrying a sleeping prefect back to his dorm room, shaking his head and clucking his tongue).

                It had been roughly seven months into the shelter arrangement. They’d been cooking something together in the kitchen (well, Sayaka was cooking and Leon was “helping”, and that was a GENEROUS term at best) when Leon cut himself on a knife (“It’s a butter knife, it’s not that sharp!” “Dull edges don’t cut as well and are more likely to slip!”) and the two went into the infirmary to find bandages.

                Sayaka had found the nurse’s stash of condoms during their search.

                Technically it was against school rules, but the headmaster and most of the staff were not comprised of ostriches who stuck their heads in the sand when it came to teenagers and certain natural urges. It had been presented to the students as a sort of “you shouldn’t do this, but if you decide to do it anyways, go to the nurse’s office to protect yourself” thing, and sure enough plenty of students took advantage. She and Leon hadn’t done anything like that yet, but there they were – still well within their expiration dates and more than bountiful, waiting to be used.

                They’d stared at them for several minutes before closing the drawer and trying to forget they’d found them. They found the bandages, cleaned the cut, and returned to the kitchen in silence. They were both thinking about it, and they both _knew_ the other was thinking about it, and they finally discussed it a few days later in the privacy of Sayaka’s dorm. Yes, there were still risks, and Sayaka getting pregnant in the event of a condom breaking would have been a disaster, but there was also something that it could provide that their current living arrangement couldn’t:

                A sense of normalcy.

                It was _normal_ for teenagers to sneak around to fool around with each other. Everything else about how they’d lived the past several months had been anything but that. Their parents were gone. The world was effectively over. There weren’t that many people left in their lives anymore, and most of them had lost everyone and everything in their lives as well.

                Leon collected a small stash of them, which they split between the two of them – half for her room, and half for his room, just in case this was going to be a regular “thing”. They’d only ended up doing it once, in her room, and the most comforting part of it was falling asleep afterwards. That entire evening had made them forget where they were and what had happened outside, and it was probably the only good night’s sleep Sayaka had gotten in months. Leon, too, for that matter.

                Sometime around a year into this arrangement, things started to get blurry. She saw imagines of Kirigiri screaming for her father, a classroom covered in blood, Chihiro screaming as someone dragged her from a classroom . . . those memories didn’t make any sense and were kind of a jumbled mess. Whatever had erased her memories must have permanently damaged the memories surrounding that event.

                It didn’t change what had just happened. She’d tried to kill the man she loved to escape from the only safe place she knew anymore. Monokuma . . . whoever or whatever he was . . . had set up this horrible game to get them to destroy what was left of their lives. Who was next? Were Aoi and Sakura going to hurt each other? What about Mondo, Ishimaru, and Chihiro? Would Hagakure – sweet, stupid Hagakure – sink to the point of hurting someone?

                Even though no one would hear her, Sayaka kept screaming.

               

                Sayaka followed Leon around for the next hour as he tried to clean up the scene of the crime and destroy the evidence. He didn’t look happy about it the whole time, and she kept apologizing to him. She’d been the one who started it, after all. She’d been so desperate to make sure her band was okay, that they were fine . . .

                . . . if only she’d been able to remember they’d already been dead for a whole year.

                Leon tried to go to bed after that, but she could tell he wasn’t sleeping. Come to think of it, she didn’t feel very tired, either, and she wondered if ghosts were able to sleep or not. She sat on the edge of his bed for a few moments, apologizing to him again and again, and then decided to go back to her room - her real room. She needed to apologize to Naegi, too.

                She tried to open the door to Leon’s bedroom – she could feel the knob, but couldn’t turn it. She cursed. Right. She was a ghost. She tried to slam her fist on the door in frustration, but discovered it passed right through, and she fell flailing into the hallway. She paused for a moment, stunned, but it really didn’t hurt – she was more surprised than anything else.

                Sayaka stood and tried the door again. She could pass through closed doors but not open doorknobs. Odd. Could she walk through walls, too? She pressed her hand against a wall – solid. Sayaka cocked her head to the side. That was bizarre. She could walk through a closed door, but not a wall? “Maybe I should . . .”  
                Sayaka headed back into Naegi’s room for some “experiments”.

                Solid objects came in two flavors – doors, which she could pass through, and everything else, which she could not. Even something as simple as a pillow may as well have been solid stone bolted to the ground. So, just like when she was alive, she still needed to walk around things. _Well, that stinks. Unless . . . can I fly? Aren’t ghosts supposed to be able to fly?_

                Sayaka climbed on top of Naegi’s bed and launched herself into the middle of the room. She crashed face first into the floor. She pushed herself up and shook her head – again, at least she couldn’t feel pain anymore, but it seemed as if flying around the school was out of the question. What else could she do?

                _Maybe there’s a way for me to communicate with the living . . ._

                Actually, that wasn’t a bad idea. But the question was who did she try to contact?

                There was only one answer.

                _Hagakure. Definitely Hagakure._

                Even if Hagakure was asleep, Sayaka reasoned that he was the most likely to believe he was actually receiving messages from beyond the grave and, maybe, the most likely to be sensitive to something like that to begin with. Getting the others to _believe_ Hagakure might be a challenge, especially since none of them remembered him, but he still seemed like the best candidate.

                Sayaka hurried to Hagakure’s room and went inside. It was dark, and the fortune teller had passed out face first on his bed. He was snoring and mumbling in his sleep, something about aliens and hamburgers. Sayaka sat on the foot of his bed. Now, what to do, what to do. _I guess I start with just talking to him – maybe he can “hear” me._ “Hagakure, can you hear me?”

                “. . . s’my burger . . .”

                Nope. Next step. “HAGAKURE WAKE UP! WAKE UP, WAKE UP, _WAKE **UP!!!**_ ”

                There was a pause, and for a moment Sayaka got excited.

                “. . . you owe me a burger . . .”

                Sayaka growled in frustration. She wondered if there was a pen and paper around, but determined she wouldn’t be able to lift the pen. Okay, maybe she could leave him a message in the mirror or something. She got off the bed and hurried to his dresser. She blew onto the mirror – nothing. Whatever it was she was doing that “felt” like breathing didn’t affect the mirror, so she tried to scrawl a message onto it as it was.

                _HAGAKURE – I AM DEAD. LEON KILLED ME. – SAYAKA_

                She couldn’t see the message at all and wasn’t sure anything was left behind at all. Maybe she needed to try the bathroom mirror instead – maybe the message would show up after he took a shower and the mirror was all fogged up? She walked over to his shower room, looked inside, and if she still had a working stomach she MIGHT have vomited. Hagakure did not keep a clean shower room at all – there were used towels and bits of dirty underwear everywhere.

                Sayaka stood horrified in the doorway. She shook her head. No, no this was more important that stinky boy underwear. Grimacing and bracing for the worse, she tip toed around Hagakure’s discarded things, scrawled something on the mirror, and tip toed back out, vowing to never step foot in there ever again.

                _Okay, now what?_

                Feeling defeated, Sayaka left Hagakure’s room. Perhaps she would try again later.

 

                Hours passed. Sayaka wandered the halls of the first floor, having made two distressing discoveries. One, the bars blocking off the second floor stair wells counted as objects she couldn’t pass through. Two, and even worse, she still couldn’t leave the school. Not that she was sure she wanted to – how much better would her situation really be if she was haunting the outside world instead of inside the school?

                Sayaka returned to Naegi’s room. The morning announcement would be soon – it would only be a matter of time before someone figured out she wasn’t at breakfast, and he came back here to check on her. She took a seat on the bed and waited, gripping her knees. She wasn’t sure why she felt the need to do this, but . . .

                _Ding dang ding dong!_

_“Good morning, you bastards! Time to wake up!”_

                Sayaka swallowed. Her throat and mouth were dry.

                Minutes passed. Minute after minute passed.

                Sayaka was almost ready to give up when she heard Naegi’s voice calling for her. She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, anything to him to apologize . . . but the minute he walked into the room, she began to sob uncontrollably. He wouldn’t be able to hear her. He was going to see her body. And then . . . she didn’t know what was going to happen.

 

                The next . . . hour or so was a blur. The reality of it all was too much for her. She was barely aware of more people entering the room, and hearing Monokuma make some sort of announcement about the discovery of a “corpse”. That made her cry even harder – that’s all she was now, just a corpse, a dead body.

                Sayaka was alone and scared . . . and dead. Even if there had been someone who was able to see her and hear her, she wouldn’t have been able to respond. She was completely inconsolable, trying to figure out where it had all gone to hell. Why did she forget two whole years of her life? Where had that horrible Monokuma come from and why was he doing this to her and her friends?

                It wasn’t until a bunch of her classmates were back in the room, talking about some sort of “investigation”, that Sayaka started to wonder what was going on. Strangely, Leon was among them. _Investigation? But, what does that mean? There’s been a murder, and Monokuma said that if you killed someone you got to leave . . . so what’s Leon doing here? Not that there’s anything for him outside, but technically he did what Monokuma wanted him to do. Why didn’t he get to go outside?_

_And . . . what are they talking about . . . Class Trial?_

                Sayaka wasn’t able to gather much, but apparently her classmates were being forced to investigate her murder to try and figure out who’d killed her. Leon hadn’t said anything, which seemed odd. Shouldn’t he have volunteered that information if it meant . . . “going home”? Additionally, Junko wasn’t with the other living students.

                A quick trip to them gym answered her question.

                There was a body lying face first on the floor. Mondo had covered it with his jacket.

                _Junko . . . Junko-chan?_ Sayaka collapsed to her knees, staring at the corpse in horror. Was Junko really dead? But then what could have killed her? The other students didn’t seem to be investigating her death, so what could have possibly happened? _At this rate everyone’s going to end up dead!_ She held back more tears, wiping her eyes with the back of her sleeve.

                _No. No, I can’t just keep doing nothing but cry! I have to do something!_

                Sayaka took a moment to gather her thoughts. “If Junko died . . . JUNKO! JUNKO, CAN YOU HEAR ME!?” _If I’m a ghost, maybe she’s a ghost, too!_ “JUNKO! JUNKO!” Her cries remained unanswered, and she hung her head. _Maybe she’s not a ghost . . . or maybe she’s not hanging around the gym anymore._ At least that was something she could do – look for Junko.

                Getting to her feet and continuing to call for the model, Sayaka began to search for the ghost of Junko Enoshima. She checked everywhere she could, even the boy’s bathroom (it wasn’t as exciting as she’d imagined it would be – it looked almost identical to the girl’s bathroom). Not in the cafeteria, not in the gym, not in the kitchen or the convenience store, not by the sealed off entrance, not even in the storage closet. Nothing. Not a sign of her. She stamped her feet in frustration. _Well, maybe Junko isn’t a ghost after all. That’s . . . disappointing_ , she thought. _Poor Mukuro, now her sister-_

Sayaka’s jaw dropped. _Oh my God. Mukuro! Where the hell is Mukuro!?_

                That was right. There were sixteen students in their class – everyone who’d been in the gym, plus Junko’s sister, Mukuro Ikusaba, the Super High School Level Soldier. But there’d been no sign of her. Well, _that_ made things even worse than they already were. Now someone was missing and no one knew about about?! Sayaka wasn’t sure what to do now. There was no telling what had happened to the other twin. She might not even be in the school, or maybe she was trapped on one of the upper levels.

                As far as the living students were concerned, she didn’t exist.

                Sayaka hung her head.  She was still hopelessly alone.

                After checking all of the dorm rooms one last time, Sayaka passed by the stairwell leading to the second floor of the dormitory. She paused, wondering why it had been closed off. Fuzzy memories of screaming and crying greeted her – she held her head and backed away. She looked up the stairs, wondering if something had happened up there.

                _I don’t get it – if dying restored the memories I lost, why are some of them still missing?_ Sayaka gripped one of the bars. Those blurry memories must have had something to do with what caused her memories – and everyone else’s, for that matter – to vanish. Maybe whatever had taken her memories had messed up the memories surrounding that event so badly they were never going to come back.

                _Ding dang ding dong!_

_“All right, you bastards, it’s time for the class trial!”_

                Sayaka crossed her arms. What was the deal with this class trial anyways?           

 

                Sayaka decided she didn’t like the class trials. At all.

                Apparently, killing a fellow student didn’t automatically initiate “graduation” – you also needed to avoid being found out in a trial. That explained the investigation. Even worse, however, was Monokuma reminding everyone (and telling her for the first time) that if they got it _wrong_ , everyone else was going to die. And if they got it right . . .

                _Oh God, what have I done?_

                Her actions had either killed Leon, or killed everyone else.

                Sayaka watched the debate from the side of the court, shaking in horror and guilt. This was her fault. This was HER fault. Even if she hadn’t killed Leon in Naegi’s room, even if she was now the first victim, there would be blood on her hands soon enough. All that was left to determine now was how much blood.

                Kirigiri helped prove Naegi’s innocence.

                Well, that was a slight relief. That was one innocent cleared. But it didn’t change that everyone else was under suspiscion, and so far no one had pieced together Leon was her killer. She felt so conflicted about it. She didn’t want to see him get hurt. She didn’t want to see everyone else get hurt, either. Maybe if someone broke into the school and rescued them; sure, Leon would be in trouble, but considering the circumstances he would probably be let off easy.

                Assuming there was even a court system – a _real_ court – left to try him.

                Everyone pieced together that she’d tried to kill her murderer.

                Sayaka grimaced. Well, they weren’t _wrong_ , but now everyone knew what she’d tried to do and that felt incredibly uncomfortable. Now they all probably hated her, and she couldn’t blame them. For what she’d tried to do, for what she’d set in motion, she probably deserved that much. At least one of them wasn’t leaving the school alive because of her.

                And then Naegi figured out her dying message.

                Sayaka hadn’t been thinking too clearly in her final moments, but she hadn’t written his name in Japanese at all, and worse, it was upside-down because of her perspective at the time. Everyone thought it was a number because the “N” hadn’t been fully connected, and, well, yeah, it sort of did look like 11037. But once they realized it wasn’t a number, that it was the name of her killer . . .

                . . . she’d done it after all. She’d killed Leon.

                Sayaka watched in horror as Leon went on the defensive, but it was no use. Her dying message, the one that she’d left for this exact purpose, had all but put the final nail in his coffin. Kirigiri and Naegi were able to piece everything together, and it lined up perfectly with what she’d watched Leon do the night before.

                Leon’s face showed up on some sort of slot machine that the stupid bear had set up.

                She should have been angry with the way he tried to explain himself. He tried to call it self defense (and Sayaka was torn on that point – even if she’d retreated, she’d opened a can of worms neither of them would be able to close – he had to have been wondering if she was going to try again or call him out on the non-fatal wounds she’d received). And when Monokuma said he was about to be punished, he was terrified.

                Sayaka hadn’t just killed him – she’d _broken_ him.

                What happened next should have been adorable. A stuffed teddy bear was hitting a big red button with a hammer that chimed very cutely when it was pressed. It looked like something that might initiate a song on a children’s program or the kind of thing you might see at a carnival, maybe something a mascot might do in a commercial. In any other situation, Sayaka would have found it darling.

                But this button was the death toll for the man she loved.

                A metal collar on a shot out from seemingly nowhere and closed itself around Leon’s neck.

                Sayaka screamed and he was yanked away. “ ** _LEON_**!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DING DANG DING DONG! Author’s Announcements!
> 
> I’m hoping the long Author’s Notes are done after this chapter -_-*
> 
> Ghost Rules: A lot of this chapter was outlining most of what the ghosts can and cannot do in this canon. Additional rules will come up as they gain relevance (such as ghosts interacting with each other). 
> 
> Canon events/dialog from the games: A lot of what the living students did that was handled on-screen by the game or anime is going to be glossed over, with the most notable exception being the executions. Those are getting written out.
> 
> Posting schedule: I’m probably not going to have a set schedule, but I’d like to get chapters out roughly every 1-2 weeks. Sometimes it might be a shorter wait, other times it might be longer. 
> 
> Things happening out of order: This is something that will happen from time to time. It won’t be a constant presence, but you’re eventually going to see that the dead students will have their own “mystery” to solve soon enough. 
> 
> AO3 Only: I need to go back and reformat the prologue. It looks gross. I feel like I could probably add a few things to it as well but for now I'm going to leave it alone.
> 
> Series? Series!: This is actually setting up additional stories that are going to go in a VERY different direction. 
> 
> Song choice: “Remember the Time” by Michael Jackson. Obviously this is going to be a recurring theme, as characters regain their memories upon death (which is going to be repetitive and a little unavoidable, so I’m going to try and have everyone remember different things to fill out some pre-despair backstory). 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who left a review!
> 
> Dixxy


	3. Just Give Me a Reason

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leon and Sayaka try to figure out if there's a way to stop a murder from beyond the grave.

Haunted

By Dixxy Mouri

Chapter Two: Just Give Me a Reason

 

                It was all happening so fast, Leon didn’t have much time to process what was going on around him. The bear wasn’t seriously going to kill him, right? He had no choice! Fucking Maizono had tried to kill him first, what was he supposed to do?! Let her kill him? Hell no! Any of them would have done the exact same thing!

                _Right?_

                Something clamped itself around his neck, and suddenly Leon was being dragged.

                _Come on, come on, this isn’t FAIR! I didn’t have a CHOICE! SHE WAS GONNA KILL ME!_

                Leon hit the ground, the collar dragging him down a long hallway. He tried to grip the ground beneath him – it was smooth and he shoes weren’t giving him any traction to stop it. Worse still, the collar was choking him as it dragged him, and no matter how hard to tugged, it wouldn’t budge. “SOMEBODY! ANYBODY! HELP ME!”

                The collar pulled him into a room with lots of bright lights, and it took Leon a moment to recognize the motif on the walls. It looked like the inside of a baseball stadium. He felt his heart sink. _What the hell is this?!_ Leon was yanked to his feet and his body slammed into a pole – seconds later, thick iron bands bound him.

                Leon didn’t like _anything_ he saw. The remaining twelve students were watching him from behind some sort of chain link fence. The teddy bear from Hell was making them watch – he was an example, just like the model had been. He was showing them what would happen to the next one who did it. None of them looked happy to be there, but it was hard to say why. Did they pity him? Did they hate him?

                But that wasn’t what scared him the most. It was the pitching machine in front of him.  He knew the device well, even if hadn’t used one in years. Not since he was little and his dad took him to the batting cages – that was how they first learned he was good at baseball. But even without using one for years, he knew enough about them to realize he was in trouble. These machines were able to shoot balls at well over 100 kilometers per hour if you set them up for it – that was why it was so important to wear batting helmets in the cages. A hit on the head from one of these things or even a really good pitcher could kill. His heart began to pound in his chest, and he could feel sweat dripping down his brow.

                Monokuma appeared in the cage, holding a baseball bat and wearing a little baseball uniform. This was all some kind of sick game to the evil bear, and he was having _fun_ at his expense. This wasn’t an execution, this was a circus, and he was nothing but the clown in the center ring. And for what? For being forced to play a game none of them wanted to play?

                The machine began to fire. Leon cried out with the first several hits – kidney, stomach, center of the chest. They hurt like hell. Sure he’d been hit by a wild pitch or two before, but never one after another like this, never from this close, never on purpose. He clenched his eyes shut, too scared to watch. He cried out with each hit, but as bruise after bruise crushed his flesh, it slowly dawned on him that the bear wasn’t trying to kill him . . . right away.

                This wasn’t an execution – this was _torture_.

                Suddenly, the pitching machine began to spin around him, and the baseballs started to pelt him like a horizontal downpour from all sides. He could feel his body being crushed and broken, he was bruised and bleeding and the pain was excruciating. But the balls weren’t hitting his head. Every other inch of him was being beaten like a dusty rug, but not his skull.

                Because a blow to the head might kill him or knock him out.

                And that wouldn’t be very fun for the teddy bear, now would it?

                Leon kept screaming. 

                Finally, they connected with his face, his nose, his eyes, his neck . . .

                Leon fell forward, landing on his hands and knees. The pain had stopped.

                And he could hear crying next to him.

                Leon turned his head in surprise. Sayaka Maizono was standing next to . . .

                . . . _his body, still being pelted by baseballs._

                That was why the pain had stopped. He was _dead_. Execution complete.

                Sayaka was sobbing, hugging herself as she stood there, eyes clenched shut as she shuddered. Her body was transparent, but he could see it was clearly her. But why was she sobbing for him? He’d killed her – even if she’d given him no choice, she was sobbing . . . he’d made her cry . . . he’d made the girl of his dreams cry . . .

                Leon paused. _Wait, what? Girl of my . . ._

                Memories began to flood his mind, like there’d been a dam keeping them in place but the thing had cracked and broken, and now his mind was awash with feelings and moments that had been hidden away from him, and he _remembered_. The expression on his face melted, and he felt himself close to tears as well. “S, Sayaka?” he asked.

                Sayaka stopped crying for a second to look at him before falling to her knees to embrace him. They both tensed up for a moment – she was cold to the touch, and Leon guessed he was probably cold as well. But after that moment of hesitation, he pulled her close. Now he was crying, too. Even though she was cold, even though they were dead, he _knew_ this embrace.

                “Sayaka . . . I’m so sorry, baby . . . I’m so sorry,” he sobbed.

                That was right. Sayaka was his girlfriend. They’d been together for almost two years now.

                Leon had been a student at Hope’s Peak Academy for two whole years. He’d been friends with everyone – they’d had classes together and study groups and day trips into the city to hang out or see a movie or . . . anything, really. They hadn’t just gotten to the school a few days ago – hell, none of them had _left_ the school for a whole year now because of all the crazy shit going on outside. These people had been his entire world.

                Sayaka had been the most important one. He remembered taking one look at her and suddenly finding himself a believer in love at first sight, and despite being so good with women otherwise, he couldn’t find any words when he was around her. She made him nervous and he always clammed up around her, and she always looked at him funny. It didn’t make any sense! He was smooth as silk with every girl he’d dated but around her he might as well have been . . . well, the obnoxious hall monitor or the creepy otaku. Leon struggled with figuring out how to approach her for the first two weeks of classes. At some point he started hanging out with Hagakure, thinking the older student might have some good advice about girls. Short answer? He didn’t, but one night when Hagakure was _probably_ high as a kite he did give him one brilliant piece of advice. “She’s like . . . like a singer, you know? You should . . . you should buy her a ukulele.”

                Okay, that plan was . . . not good (awful, really – what the hell would she have done with a ukulele?), but it gave Leon an idea. They had an assignment for music class – they needed to perform one song so their teacher could have a better gauge as to where everyone was – who could sing, who could play an instrument, whatever. Sayaka was kind of exempt, seeing as she got into the school with her music, but the rest of them needed to show their stuff. And since Leon wanted to be a musician going forward anyways, this was the perfect way to get her attention.

                He was one of the last ones to go up, and while some of them were not difficult acts to follow (Chihiro and Fukawa both passed out before they could start, Hagakure sounded like a dying cat, and Yamada’s rendition of some anime opening in full cosplay left _everyone_ feeling more than a little awkward), others were. Byakuya and Ishimaru were _both_ skilled pianists. Kirigiri, despite wearing gloves, could play the violin (seriously, how in the hell could she play the _fucking violin_ like that?). Neither Aoi nor Naegi were particularly good at anything musical but collaborated on a rhythm based piece with claps and cups that was actually pretty catchy. And of course Sayaka schooled everyone.

                No one seemed to expect him to sing a love song – they’d all expected the Sex Pistols or something, he was sure – and no one expected him to change the last line of the song to ask the pop idol out on a date. Sayaka had blushed and someone (probably Mondo) wolf whistled from the back of the class. Their music teacher wasn’t so amused and immediately gave him detention, yammering that it was out of line and the wrong thing to do or some other pointless rule bullshit (hell, even Ishimaru seemed to think it was pointless rule bullshit, and he was the _king_ of pointless rule bullshit).

                Sayaka stood up to yell that she was speaking out of turn. Both of them were sent into the hall.

                While they waited for class to finish, they actually had a conversation. Sayaka confessed she’d thought he didn’t like her, and he confessed he was too nervous to talk to her and it was the only thing he could think of to break the ice (and, well, mission accomplished – he was able to talk to her after that). They agreed to catch a movie after their detention got out and just barely, barely made it back to the dorms before curfew. For a year, everything had been perfect.

                Then the World’s Most Despair Inducing Incident happened.  Headmaster Kirigiri outlined his plan to shelter them in the school, maybe for the rest of their lives. At first, no one agreed – what about their loved ones? Their parents? Their other friends? Did he really expect them to just abandon everyone they cared about like that? The headmaster conceded the point, but refused to let them leave without finding out if their parents were, indeed, all right.

                Leon and Sayaka were the first to get word of what had happened to their loved ones. His parents had been killed by a lynch mob. Then the guys on his baseball team fell into despair and got into a massive fight with three or four other teams – there were no survivors. Sayaka found out about her band (Jin refused to give her details) and her dad (single gunshot wound to the head) around the same time, and the two of them holed themselves up in his room to cry, deciding to consent to the headmaster’s plan before they fell asleep, holding each other and sobbing.

                The rest of their class got bad news as the days rolled on. Only two of them got any semblance of “good” news. Naegi’s little sister was currently listed as “missing” so there was a _chance_ she was still alive. Sakura’s family was all right for the moment, but when they managed to get on the phone with her they encouraged her to go along with the headmaster’s plan to keep her safe. Even for someone as strong as Sakura, it was too dangerous to try and get home.

                And just like that, their world had shrunk to the size of the academy. They tried to have something resembling normalcy – once classes stopped, a “committee” consisting of Aoi, Kiyotaka, Naegi, and Chihiro put together an “activity schedule” to encourage them to do something fun every day to try and keep everyone’s spirits up. Movie nights, “potluck” dinners, video games, whatever they could think of. Some days it worked, some days it didn’t.

                Leon hadn’t wanted it to happen the way it did, but it was during that second year at the school he lost his virginity. Before the World’s Most Despair Inducing Incident, Sayaka was simply not emotionally ready for it, which he respected, and she was concerned about her public image, which he had to agree with (he’d been visited by recruiters from all of the Japanese teams and some of the big American teams, including the Boston Red Sox and the Texas Rangers, as well as some lesser teams like the New York Yankees). So before everything went to shit, they decided to wait.

                But there was one night several months after the school had been sealed off that they were both feeling particularly sad and lonely, and an opportunity had presented itself, and for that one night they managed to forget about the sorry state of the world and the sorry state of their lives. Leon was kind of glad that it was someone he cared about. Before Sayaka, before Hope’s Peak, it was something he hadn’t cared about – well, okay, he cared a LOT about the actually having sex part (he was not the only young man he knew who treated virginity like a disease that must be gotten rid of as soon as possible), but a younger Leon had been ambivalent about the “who”. Now? After everything that had happened? It was meaningful. If they ever got out of this, if things outside really did get better one day, he decided he was going to marry her.

                How could they have forgotten all of that? How could they have all forgotten they’d lost everyone, everything, and the world outside had been thrown into chaos? They didn’t want to _leave_ the academy, much less murder the only people in their lives they had left, they were supposed to stay there and try to wait out the disaster.

                Instead, three of them were dead. And Leon wasn’t sure he’d be the last to die.

                Sayaka didn’t say anything, continuing to cling to him and cry. He closed his eyes. She must have been feeling guilty, too – without her memories, she must have been pretty desperate to get back to her band and her dad. She had no idea what she was really doing. No one did right now, and that was terrifying. He really hadn’t known what he’d been doing, either.

                The barrage of baseballs finally stopped. The classmates were being forced to look at his body – it was barely recognizable anymore it had been so badly beaten. His face was swollen, black and blue – Leon was pretty sure he saw a few of his teeth lying among the bloody baseballs. Everyone was watching in horror, no one saying a word.

                Sayaka shuddered. “I’m so sorry . . .”

                Leon held her tighter. “No, I should be the one who’s sorry.”

                “But I-“

                Naegi shouted something, and Leon and Sayaka turned to where the living students were gathered. The two ghosts (Leon . . . guessed that was what he was now) watched as the only ‘normal’ person among them, the Super High School Level Good Luck, said that he was going to carry their deaths – his, Sayaka’s, and Junko’s – with him forever, and he wasn’t going to forgive . . . _Monokuma_.

                Even after everything that had happened, even after both of them had tried to put the blame on Naegi for what happened . . . he didn’t blame them. He wasn’t angry, and he was distraught over their deaths, even if he didn’t remember who they were – he didn’t remember Sayaka had been his best friend, and he didn’t remember all the times he’d hung out with Leon. _But . . . how? How can you forgive us?! After what we did to each other . . . what we tried to do to you? How can you forgive us like that?_

                Because, in the end, it really was all that fucking teddy bear’s fault.

 

                The ride back up to the rest of the academy was silent. Leon and Sayaka had needed to move quickly to not miss it, since no one would be waiting for them to board the elevator, and neither of them wanted to be trapped in the nightmarish bowels of the school. It was better to be on the main floor of the academy – it was a slightly happier place to haunt.

                “What are we gonna do?” she asked.

                “We’ll figure it out,” he said. He closed his eyes and tried to think. Something, or rather someone, was missing. Memories of Junko being skewered in the middle of the gym flashed in his mind’s eye, and he had to wonder where the pink haired fashionista had run off to. “I . . . gotta ask. Junko’s dead, too. Did she just . . . not come to trial?”

                Sayaka shook her head. “I, I really don’t know,” she said. “I wasn’t in the gym when she died, and I haven’t seen her ghost around so I’m not sure she . . . came back, or whatever this is. I didn’t even know she was dead until I saw her body. I tried to look for her but . . . nothing. Until you died, I thought I was going to be all alone forever.”

                Leon swallowed. “Then what were you doing at my execution?”

                “I . . . didn’t want you to die alone. Even if you didn’t know I was there.”

                Leon hugged her. “. . . thank you.” It really was a nice gesture on her part. If he’d been there all alone after he’d died, he didn’t know what he would have done. Probably gone crazy or something. But having Sayaka there meant that at least he wasn’t alone. _Like she’s been since last night. But she doesn’t have to worry about that now . . . if she still wants me around._

                The elevator jerked to a stop and the doors opened. Everyone filed out and headed to the dorms in silence. None of the living students wanted to talk, and truth be told everyone looked exhausted. Leon felt strangely awake – tired, maybe, but he didn’t think he could sleep. He looked at Sayaka questioningly. “Have you slept since . . .”

                “No, I haven’t. I don’t think we can,” she said.

                Seeing there was no point in going back to their dorm rooms, they settled on spending some time in the cafeteria. Really, it didn’t matter where they went – they had all the privacy in the world since no one could hear them or see them anymore. But something about the cafeteria seemed the most appealing, and that was where they decided to wait out the night.

                They went over as much as they could. Sayaka couldn’t remember the events leading up to her memory being erased, and it occurred to Leon he couldn’t either. The most he could recall was Mondo  being led out of a classroom at gunpoint, and himself and Aoi running through the halls of the school trying to get away from someone or something. Which meant they had no idea who was really behind all this. It seemed unlikely that they were simply the victims of a magical talking teddy bear with a fetish for homicide so someone was behind it. But who?

                Leon had a sudden epiphany. “Something’s not right.”

                “Sweetie, that’s a bit of an understatement,” said Sayaka.

                “No, no, we’re missing someone,” he said. “Mukuro wasn’t in the gym with us.”

                Sayaka lowered her eyes. “I noticed . . . but I have no idea what happened to her. The teachers and the headmaster are all missing, too, but it seemed like whatever Monokuma wants, he’s just interested in our class.” She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Considering what we just saw . . . I don’t think they’re alive.”

                Leon shuddered. “Headmaster Kirigiri promised to protect us. He definitely wouldn’t want this.”

                “Yeah. That’s why I think something happened to them, too. I can’t remember what happened surrounding our memories being taken away, but . . . whatever happened to them must have happened during that time. I don’t know if I want to remember, but it’s driving me crazy that I can’t. I just want to know they’re all okay, but I don’t think that’s the case.”

                “And Mukuro’s a soldier – she probably resisted or got away or . . . something,” said Leon. He tried to come up with a reason for her absence, but there were too many possibilities – those blurry memories surrounding their memories being erased might have held the answer, but for now there was none. They couldn’t even ask Junko if she knew what had happened to her sister, though a pit in his stomach suggested that Mukuro may have been the subject of the model’s “motivational DVD”.

                Sayaka looked like she was ready to start crying again – unsure of what to do, considering hugging her would just make her cold, Leon took off his dress shirt and draped it over her shoulders. She looked at him and gave him a weak smile. “Thank you,” she said, pulling it closer. Sayaka paused for a moment, then looked at the shirt. “Huh.”

                “Huh what?”

                “I didn’t think about it, but . . . I wonder . . .” Sayaka reached into her hair and pulled out one of her hairclips. She twirled it around in her fingers. “Would you look at that.” She put the clip on the table. “It’s almost like anything that we were wearing gets a ‘ghost’, too.” Leon picked it up – unlike Sayaka, it wasn’t cold, but it definitely felt like something. It had weight and texture to it, much like his shirt had.

                “What good is this going to do us?”

                “It might not do _us_ any good, but we need to learn as much as we can about what we can and can’t do here. If there’s a way for us to get a message back to the others, we need to do it. Let them know about what happened to their memories and that we’re all friends and the world outside is dangerous. We’re the only ones who know that.”

                Leon continued to stare at Sayaka’s hair clip, but it gave him no answers.

 

                Even though they couldn’t sleep, they tried to return to their respective rooms. Leon found his completely stripped, as if no one had ever lived in there. He sat on his bed – the mattress didn’t sink down from his weight – it was almost uncomfortable. He fell back – soft, but hard at the same time. It was almost like diving into the grass.

                “Leon?”

                Leon pushed himself up on his elbows. Sayaka had walked back in. “Hi,” he said. He sat up and patted the spot on the bed next to him. She smiled weakly and took the seat. They sat in silence for several minutes, unsure of what to say to each other. It had been so easy in life – once they’d started dating, she was the easiest person in their class to talk to. He felt like her could tell her anything.

                Now that the chaos of the trial had subsided . . . maybe she was rethinking things. After all, he _had_ been the one to kill her, memories erased or not. And she’d _tried_ to kill him. Even knowing that something had happened to them, even if they still couldn’t place what . . . where did they go from there?

                “We . . . really haven’t talked about what happened last night,” she said.

                “Yeah,” he said. “Just a lot of apologies.”

                “Does that mean we forgive each other?”

                Leon wasn’t sure. He still loved Sayaka, but her actions had wrought chaos upon himself and everyone else they knew and cared about. “I know Naegi’s already forgiven us,” he said. “He clearly thinks Monokuma . . . or whoever is pulling his strings . . . is at fault. And . . . he’s right, you know. The bear has something to do with what happened to our memories, and he’s the one who fed us those motives.”

                Sayaka looked like she was ready to cry. “Leon . . . can you forgive me?”

                “Do you forgive me?”

                They turned to face each other, and Leon grasped her hands – Sayaka squeezed back. They were still cold, and he wished her could feel the warmth of her skin again, but it seemed like this is what they would have to deal with for . . . well, maybe forever. Did he forgive her? Would she forgive him. He studied her eyes, trying to decide.

                “Yes.”

                They said it in unison, and there was no lies leaving either of their lips. They let go of their hands – it wasn’t bitter cold, but there was only so much of it they could take. Leon wished he could kiss her, but wasn’t sure it would be comfortable for either of them. “We’ll figure this out,” he said quietly. “We’ll figure out . . . what we’re going to do.”

                Sayaka caught a tear that had been rolling down her cheek. “Okay.”

 

                The second floor of the school was opened up the next morning as a “reward” for finding Leon guilty. “I don’t know how I feel about that,” he said dryly. “Is that all my life was worth? Now everyone can explore the second floor?” Sayaka patted him on the shoulder, trying to be encouraging as they followed their classmates to the second floor.

                Things didn’t seem to be improving. Everyone was still trying to find a way out, or a way to communicate with the outside world. That wasn’t going to happen - the only internet and phone access in the whole school was from Headmaster Kirigiri’s bedroom, which was still inaccessible. Worse, Byakuya’s callous attitude about the ordeal got Chihiro upset, and that started a fight with Mondo and Ishimaru.

                Leon cringed. Before their memories were taken from them, Mondo, Ishimaru, and Chihiro had all been extremely close . . . though it hadn’t always been that way. Back when they’d first gotten to the school, Mondo and Ishimaru more or less _immediately_ disliked each other, and Chihiro was intimidated by both of them, though for different reasons. As such, she avoided them like the plague and if the other two were near each other . . . well, it didn’t always end pretty.

                Around the same time Leon and Sayaka had started dating, physical education classes started. For the first couple of weeks they had been cancelled due to their gym teacher being sick and the school not providing a substitute, but when the teacher came back . . . things went horribly wrong for Chihiro. No one had any idea Chihiro wasn’t biologically female. But their gym teacher started dropping some rather ugly language about her, absolutely _no one_ felt comfortable, but all of them were too afraid to say anything.

                Except for Mondo and Ishimaru.

                It was actually kind of amazing, sort of like watching one of those nature shows about packs of wild animals taking down their prey and watching them rip the flesh straight from the bone. Mondo got up in their teacher’s face at first, which initially looked like it was going to end poorly for him, but Ishimaru backed him up with a subsection of the school’s code of conduct as it applied to teachers respecting student privacy. It was in that moment something magical happened – despite hating each other, despite not being able to agree on anything even if it was just for the sake of pissing the other one off, they fell into a rhythm and starting double-teaming the offending party while Chihiro watched in dumbstruck awe. That rat bastard couldn’t get a word in edgewise, and then all that was left of their gym teacher was the hollow shell of a man.

                Headmaster Kirigiri fired him by the end of the school day.

                That night during dinner, Leon and Sayaka spotted the three of them in the corner of the cafeteria. Chihiro was smiling, laughing at something Mondo and Ishimaru were talking about. They were an unlikely group to be sure, but there they were, acting as if eating together was the natural thing to do.

                Before long those three were practically inseparable, and the relationship benefited all of them. Mondo’s grades, which had been among the worst in their class, shot up with help from Ishimaru and Chihiro – oh, he wasn’t suddenly at the top of the class or anything, but his D’s were now B’s. Ishimaru got better at interacting with other people and even picked up kendo, his first real hobby – he ended up being the only person in school who could last more than five minutes against the Super High School Level Swordsman. Chihiro found a lot of confidence she didn’t have before and even though she was still shy and quiet and meek, she wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself – about her gender, about what she thought was right or wrong, anything.

                Seeing Mondo and Ishimaru fighting while Chihiro cried made him feel sick.

                Watching all of their little sub groups splintered and broken made Leon feel sick. Celes was bossing Yamada around like she owned him. Byakuya seemed to think it was him versus everyone else. Something was especially wrong with Kyouko, but Leon couldn’t place it. Sakura and Aoi had bonded fairly quickly, but the adoration they always had when looking at each other was gone. Touko was a mess. Hagakure was taken seriously be exactly no one. Naegi just looked worried and bothered, though that probably had something to do with Sayaka dying in his shower room.

                Leon had thought Sayaka’s murder and his execution would put a stop to the murders. How could any of their classmates want to die as horribly as he had, or as horribly as she did? But with the way everyone was getting along at the moment, with the way no one else seemed to have even a tiny bit of their memories intact, it seemed like it was only a matter of time.

 

                A couple of days later, something happened between Ishimaru and Mondo.

                Leon was vaguely aware they’d gotten into a pissing contest in the sauna, but suddenly the two were hanging off of each other and declaring to the world that they had entered some kind of bromance. They were calling each other “Kyoudai” again, and the pair of ghosts couldn’t help but smile a little. Maybe, just maybe, on some level they were starting to remember their friendship.

                And maybe, just maybe, it would become infectious. Let it spread like a disease among their classmates, let them all start to band together and stand in defiance against that accursed teddy bear and his stupid plan. Maybe it would jog their memories or trigger something, and when they all remembered the state of the outside world and how important they all were to each other . . .

                _Ding dang ding dong!_

                Monokuma called everyone to the gym for some sort of emergency announcement.

                “What’s he think he’s doing now?” asked Sayaka.

                Leon looked at her in worry. “Even if we can’t do anything . . . we should probably check it out.”

 

                It was another motive.

                Twelve envelopes had been tossed out to the classmates, each containing an embarrassing or dark secret none of them would have wanted shared. Leon and Sayaka stood in the middle, wondering if any of their classmates really had a secret worth killing over. “You don’t think . . .” Leon started.

                “It’s . . . hard to say,” said Sayaka. “I mean should we look at them?”

                “What!?” Leon asked.

                “We’re ghosts – they wouldn’t know, right?” she said.

                Leon fidgeted uncomfortably where he stood. She had a solid point, but it was still an invasion of privacy. Dead or not, these people were all their friends. Even if they didn’t remember, wouldn’t it be wrong to violate that trust? He was about to stick to his guns on that, but then he caught a glimpse at Chihiro’s secret.

                _Chihiro is a boy who dresses up in girl’s clothes._

                “Hold on a second,” said Leon, beckoning Sayaka closer. “Take a look at Chihiro’s ‘secret’.”

                “I thought you were against this,” she said, scurrying over to the programmer. Sayaka gasped. “But that’s . . . everyone in our class . . . we already know she was born a boy! And . . . and that’s really insensitive! It doesn’t matter – Chihiro’s one of us girls!”

                “No, Sayaka, _we_ know that, _they_ don’t,” said Leon. “We remember those two years – none of them do. So I’m willing to bed good money that we probably know the rest of these ‘secrets’ as well. Whoever’s doing this to us wants the worst possible outcomes. We killed each other, and we were dating. What if someone kills someone over something all of us already know?”

                Sayaka closed her eyes and clenched her fists.

 

                It was a mixed bag of things they did and didn’t know.

                “Some of these . . . definitely aren’t worth killing over,” said Leon. He and Sayaka had gone over everyone’s secrets. Some of them were relatively benign – Naegi apparently wet the bed through the fifth grade. Humiliating? Yes. Worth killing over? No, probably not. No one cared Hagakure was a brony – Leon had gotten him a Twilight Sparkle plushie for their last Christmas before the World's Most Despair Inducing Incident.

                Chihiro was probably the person least like to kill someone in their group, but she had one of the bigger secrets. She also didn’t remember what had happened when she was outted before their memories were taken away and had no idea that, in all likelihood, everyone would still be okay with it. Shocked, maybe, but overall okay with it. “This has to be stressing her out,” said Sayaka. “I’m worried about her.”

                “Me, too,” said Leon.

                “Any other gross misstatements?”

                “Evil Winnie the Pooh is trying to blame Daiya’s death on Mondo.”

                Sayaka fumed. “But that wasn’t his fault! Sue what he did was reckless, but it wasn’t like he outright murdered him!” None of them had ever gotten the chance to meet the elder Oowada, but encounters with the Crazy Diamonds filled in some of the holes about just how much Daiya meant to Mondo. In short? The Oowadas did not have a good home life. Mrs. Oowada had gotten pregnant by an American businessman, which caused Mr. Oowada to walk out. Shortly after Mondo was born, their mother started to drink herself into a stupor – Daiya stepped in to take care of his new baby brother. He considered trying to get custody of his brother once he turned eighteen, but as “luck” would have it the woman drank herself to death and the courts took pity on him. Daiya wasn’t just Mondo’s big brother – he’d practically raised him, so it was no surprise that he would happily, readily, put himself between danger and his baby brother. Mondo didn’t see it that way for a long time, though after Chihiro and Ishimaru convinced him to talk to the school guidance counselor about it he started to find acceptance.

                “One guess for Touko’s secret,” Sayaka said dryly.

                “Genocider Syo?” Leon responded.

                Neither of them had even considered what might happen if Touko had an “incident” here and now, but it seemed like it might spell some sort of disaster. It had been hard enough to deal with when they were just normal students before the World's Most Despair Inducing Incident happened. In here? There was no way to get away if she switched. Worse still, Byakuya was her “type”, so there was, unfortunately, a good chance he’d end up dead by her hand. “Actually, it might be a good thing for Syo to come out,” Sayaka said.

                “How is a crazy serial killer going to help!?” Leon asked.

                “Touko and Syo don’t share memories – they share knowledge, but _not_ memories. It’s possible that when Touko lost her memories, Syo didn’t,” said Sayaka. She lowered her eyes. “I mean, it’s a long shot, because even if she does come out there’s no guarantee she’d mention it, really, but it’s possible that Syo could be the key to this.”

                “This does not make me feel any better about the safety of our friends.”

                “That’s . . . not the thing I’m most worried about though,” said Sayaka.

                “How could Genocider Syo not be the worst thing? I mean, for Pete’s sake Togami’s secret is . . . okay I’ll admit I didn’t know that and it’s kind of funny but not worth killing over. No one is going to be surprised to learn about the contents of Yamada’s porn stash – he lives and breathes the otaku lifestyle, no _shit_ he has dirty doujinshi. I don’t even like anime that much and _I_ had a few of those.”

                “Leon!”

                Leon raised an eyebrow. “Don’t look at me like you never looked up ‘yaoi’.”

                “But that’s . . . you . . . shut up!” Sayaka looked a little flustered, and if they weren’t trying to figure out if it was possible to stop a murder from beyond the grave, he might have laughed. He knew the contents of her Internet browser history and she knew it. “Anyways, like I said, that isn’t what I’m most concerned about. It’s Sakura’s secret I’m worried about.”

                “Sakura?” asked Leon. While Sakura was definitely the one most capable of killing someone, except for _maybe_ Touko, she was up there with Chihiro in terms of being among the least likely to do it. Sure she was big and imposing and made of muscle, but she was very honor bound and cool headed and disciplined. “What could possible drive Sakura, _Sakura_ , of all people, to kill, even in this situation?”

                Sayaka swallowed. “She’s working as a mole for Monokuma.”

                That was someone he hadn’t expected. “There’s no way! _Sakura_?!”

                “All it said was ‘Sakura Oogami is a mole for Monokuma – upupupupupu.’ I don’t know what Monokuma expects her to do or if it was voluntary or not,” said Sayaka. “It _is_ pretty suspiscious that she’s the only one of us whose family wasn’t killed in the World’s Most Despair Inducing Incident,” said Sayaka. “But . . . I can’t see it! I just can’t!”

                “Maybe the mastermind got to her family . . . she had one of the DVDs, too.”

                Sayaka looked nervous. “That . . . that would make sense . . .”

                “Should we, I don’t know, follow her around and see what she does?” asked Leon.

                “What’s that going to accomplish?”

                “I . . . I don’t know,” said Leon. “Like you said, maybe the two of us together can figure something out about getting through to the others, right? Convince her to not go along with the bear’s evil plan . . . whatever that plan may be. I mean, this _isn’t_ our Sakura. She couldn’t . . . she can’t . . . not even here . . . she just _can’t . . ._ ”

                “Leon . . . she isn’t our Sakura. Not right now,” said Sayaka.

                Leon took her point. “So . . . what do we do? Follow her?”

                Sayaka sighed. “I guess so . . .”

 

                Nothing. Sakura hung out with Asahina, ate dinner (chicken, leafy green salad, protein shake, boiled potatoes), worked out, spilled one of her protein shakes in the girl’s locker room, and went to bed. She wasn’t sleeping peacefully (none of them were), but she wasn’t sleeping like someone who was planning something rotten.

                Leon and Sayaka left her room. Now they had another night on their hands with nothing to do.

                Until they spotted Chihiro headed somewhere with a duffel bag.

                “Huh? Where does Chihiro think she’s going?” asked Sayaka. “It’s the middle of the night.”

                Leon studied the bag from a distance. “Gym bag,” he said.

                “She’s going to the gym at this hour?”

                Leon shrugged. “That’s kind of suspicious. Maybe she’s planning something?”

                “I can’t see Chihiro trying to kill anyone – remember what happened in the library? She and Kiyotaka were ready to spill their secrets to keep everyone safe, and she got into that fight with Byakuya over trying to stick together,” said Sayaka. “Even though she thinks she’s responsible for your death . . . she’s . . . she’s our little Chihiro. She _can’t_ be planning a murder.”

                “Sayaka . . . none of these people are acting the way they normally would,” said Leon. “She’s lost her memories. _Everyone_ is stressed out and scared. Everyone is worried about their parents and the friends – we’re the only ones who know what’s going on.” He crossed his arms. “She misses her parents. Her friends. She doesn’t _know_ that everyone in this school are the only friends she has left.”

                Sayaka frowned but nodded, and the two followed Chihiro up to the second floor.

                They walked in silence until reaching the entrance to the locker rooms. Leon and Sayaka watched Chihiro pull out her ElectroID, sigh heavily, and let herself into the boy’s locker room. “It’s still kind of weird that she’s going to the gym this time of night – it’s got to be past one at this point, maybe close to two,” said Sayaka. “Kind of a weird time to work out, wouldn’t you say?”

                “Well . . . actually, it makes perfect sense considering what we just saw,” said Leon.

                “I still don’t understand how going to the gym at two o’clock in the morning makes sense.”

                Leon shook his head. “No, think about it this way. Chihiro went into the _boy’s_ locker room – because she _can’t_ use the girls room.” He pointed to the twin machine guns hanging from the ceiling. “Monokuma probably had her ElectroID set to identify her as male, meaning that her ElectroID won’t let her into the girl’s locker room. If she tried, she’d be killed.”

                Sayaka’s eyes widened. “And if we tried to work out during the day, she’d be spotted.”

                “Exactly,” said Leon.

                “So . . . Chihiro’s really not doing anything all that suspicious after all,” said Sayaka.

                “Seems that way, yeah.”

                Leon watched as his girlfriend sighed with relief and leaned against the wall – despite not being tired enough to sleep, standing and walking was still tiring and it was good to rest every so often. “That’s good. I was worried something else was going to happen,” she said. She smiled. As long as all of the dying stops, I think I’ll-“

                Sayaka and Leon paused – there was some sort of commotion going on in the boy’s locker room. It sounded like someone was yelling, but it definitely wasn’t Chihiro’s voice doing all of the screaming. “What the hell?” Leon asked. The yelling was followed by a sickening thud, and the silence that followed was deafening. “That . . . no . . . it’s not . . . _it can’t . . ._ ”

                “ _CHIHIRO . . . CHIHIRO!”_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DING DANG DING DONG! Author's Announcements!
> 
> EDIT: DAMN IT! All my italics got lost! Going to fix them now *grumble grumble*
> 
> Why yes I am from the Boston area, why do you ask? ~_^
> 
> WOW this was a long chapter _ Not including Author's Announcements it cleared 7,000 words. I . . . guess I had a lot to say about Leon? Plus having another character to interact with that wasn't sleep talking Hagakure probably helped you know? I also think I'm going to put more emphasis on their memories returning – they probably aren't as good as full blown flashbacks but if I did that I would never get this finished, and as characters who have important relationships with each other come into the fray it'll be good to see those things from different viewpoints (like, clearly there's going to be a lot about the Chihiro, Mondo, and Ishimaru trio coming up, probably followed by Yamada and Celes' friendship).
> 
> There's at least one or two more "ghost rules" that have yet to crop up, but here are the basics so far: Ghosts can walk through most doorways, but not walls, gated areas like the stairwells, or any doors leading outside. They cannot manipulate objects in the living world but can manipulate objects that were on their person when they died as there are now "ghost" versions of these objects. (such as Leon's shirt and Sayaka's hair clip) Ghosts cannot fly. Ghosts can't sleep. No one, including Hagakure, can make any kind of contact with a ghost. Lastly, ghosts can make physical contact with each other but are cold to the touch.
> 
> I had a few ideas for other secrets (such as an actual serious secret for Ishimaru that would have pertained to his grandfather's scandal) but Sakura's secret? Makes sense to me. Sakura would ABSOLUTELY not want everyone to know about that and yeah, Monokuma's goal is to get someone to kill another student - might as well poke the fire he's already started, right?
> 
> Lastly, I'm probably going to start seeking out a beta reader soon - especially if there are more chapters this long in the pipeline. My normal beta reader doesn't know Dangan Ronpa and obviously this story is a minefield of spoilers, so I'll be looking for someone to help me with a little QC in the future.
> 
> Song choice: "Just Give Me a Reason", as sung by P!nk and Nate Ruess. This chapter went through a few song changes (as will a lot of these chapters as I find better song choices and do everything in my power to avoid having to use that damn Linkin Park song), but this is what I settled on. I also realize a lot of these songs are downers but considering the context of the story it's . . . kind of unavoidable. Future installments will probably have some happier stuff mixed in.
> 
> Dixxy


	4. Magnolia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chihiro finds the memory of her friendship with Mondo and Kiyotaka more painful than her actual death.

Haunting the Halls                                                   

By Dixxy Mouri

Chapter Three: Magnolia

 

                “Mondo? Is everything okay?” Chihiro didn’t understand – Mondo had a horrified look on his face. But their conversation had been going so well. Sure he’d freaked out for a second there about being strong, but . . . what happened? _Is it something I said?_ But the biker’s expression didn’t change. He dropped a dumbbell he’d been holding and covered his mouth. “. . . Mondo?”

                “Chihiro . . . _Chihiro!”_

Chihiro screamed as Mondo lunged forward, but passed . . . through her?

                _. . . am, am I dreaming?_

                “Kid, wake up! Don’t be dead, don’t be dead!”

                Chihiro looked at the dumbbell – it had a smear of blood on it.

                “What . . . what . . .” she said.

                Chihiro felt . . . numb.

                Something felt off, and she couldn’t figure out what. Something was missing . . .

                Chihiro was afraid to turn around. She didn’t want to see what Mondo was yelling about. If she didn’t look, it wasn’t real. She closed her eyes. It wasn’t real. She was going to open her eyes and Mondo would ask if she was okay and everything would be just fine. He wasn’t screaming over her dead body – Mondo wouldn’t hurt her, he couldn’t, he was always so protective of her.

                _He’s protective of me? But he barely knows me . . . right?_

_. . . no, no that’s right!_

                Something started to come through the locker room door. _What in the . . .?_

Chihiro’s eyes widened. Leon and Sayaka were scrambling into the locker room, but they were see-through . . . and they could walk through doors. But how? They’d both died days ago. She’d seen Sayaka’s dead body in Naegi’s shower room and watched Leon’s execution. How could they be in the locker room? How could . . .

                “L, Leon? S, Sayaka?” Chihiro asked.

                The two of them didn’t say anything – they were looking between her and whatever was going on behind her. Mondo was still yelling at her to not be dead, begging her to not be dead, apologizing over and over and pleading with her to just open her eyes. Chihiro struggled to her feet, clenched her eyes shut, and turned around.

                When she opened her eyes again, she couldn’t believe what she was looking at.

                Mondo was cradling her dead body.

                “C’mon . . . c’mon, wake up . . . please . . .”

                Chihiro covered her mouth and continued to stare at the scene in horror. “I . . . I . . .”

                She felt a cold hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Sayaka looking at her sadly before pulling her into a hug. It was cold, but it made what had happened all the more real. It was true. She was really dead now, wasn’t she? One of her two best friends, one of the people she thought of as her big brothers had really . . .

                _But . . . I don’t . . . understand . . ._

                And that was when it hit her. Her memories.

                She’d been a student at Hope’s Peak Academy for around two years now. She’d been so sure it had just been what, five or six days? But how did she manage to forget everything? How could she forget that she knew all of these people and . . . it didn’t make any sense! People didn’t just forget two years of their lives out of nowhere!

                Chihiro hadn’t been terribly comfortable with classes at Hope’s Peak for the first few weeks. She was shy to begin with, and no one seemed to get along too well in Class 78 – it was just the twins (and even then they only got along in the sense that Junko was always bossing Mukuro around and the older twin just took it) and Sayaka and Naegi (because they’d gone to the same junior high school). Really, no one had very much in common and fights erupted regularly.

                Especially between Mondo Oowada, the Super High School Level Bike Gang Leader, and Kiyotaka Ishimaru, the Super High School Level Moral Compass. They were _constantly_ at it each other’s throats, and all of the yelling made Chihiro nervous. She avoided them when she could, especially with her secret. There’s no way Mondo wouldn’t try to beat her up or Kiyotaka wouldn’t think she was some kind of deviant pervert.

                And then the school’s gym teacher returned from sick leave about a month or so in and immediately started calling her a freak. He was a stocky manly-man type the school had brought over from another country because of his reputation for whipping teenagers into great physical shape. She had been nervous enough when they had to start physical education classes, but the way she was being treated by their teacher was humiliating. He was screaming broken Japanese directly in her face, so close she could feel his hot, moist breath on her face – she was covered in spittle and tears.

                This man began throwing slurs at her and even some of the more foul mouthed members of her class looked horrified. Everyone was staring at her while slur after cuss word was thrown at her . . . now they all _knew_ , and it made her stomach turn. They were going to start treating her differently, the girls were going to be afraid of her, the boys were going to tell her to man up and beat her up . . . it was going to be hell. She was going to have to drop out of Hope’s Peak Academy and return to her old school – her parents were going to be so disappointed, they’d been _thrilled_ she’d been invited to attend because it was going to give her a future that was beyond their hopes for her. But now, now it wasn’t going to be safe here anymore.

                Just like that, Chihiro thought her future was ruined.

                But then a miracle happened – Mondo and Kiyotaka happened.

                She’d been so afraid of the two of them for so long it didn’t occur to her that they might try to protect her. Mondo pushed their teacher out of the way – sure, this guy was pretty thick, but the biker was thicker _and_ that all came from muscle, not fat – it was like the difference between an eighteen wheeler and giant, bigoted marshmallow. He immediately started to lay into him, calling him worse than a bully for picking on someone that much smaller than him. According to Mondo, real men didn’t pick on people smaller than them.

                Of course their teacher didn’t give up – he called Mondo a delinquent (“. . . so?” had been his response) and threatened to have him kicked out of the school, but Kiyotaka came in citing school policy word for word – teachers were not supposed to harass students based on gender or sexual identity, expose a student’s personal information to other students, and even though Mondo _had_ pushed him he’d done so in the defense of another student. Mondo had turned to him in surprise, but a smile crept onto his lips – he was impressed. And Kiyotaka seemed impressed with how quickly Mondo had stepped in as well.

                After class was over, both of them were waiting for her and started fussing over her . . . in their own “unique” ways. Quiet and calm wasn’t something either of them did particularly well, but they tried their best – Mondo asked her if she was hungry, and Kiyotaka had a bottle of water for her. Clearly, they weren’t sure what to do to comfort someone who’d just gone through what their gym teacher had put her through, but she had to give them credit for trying. She thanked Kiyotaka for the water bottle and reminded Mondo that lunch wasn’t for another hour, but maybe they could all sit together.

                And that was how it started. Chihiro started to learn more and more about these boys who became her self-appointed big brothers. They had problems of their own (she had no idea that Kiyotaka was related to _that_ Toranosuke Ishimaru or that his family was _still_ suffering financially from the scandal) and soft spots (Mondo adored animals, especially dogs, but dragging him away from a pet store was next to impossible sometimes). Everyone kind of stared at them funny when they first started to hang out because, really, their little trio didn’t make any sense.

                Eventually everyone in their class started to get along, albeit everyone had their little subgroups or friendships or romantic entanglements to deal with. Chihiro, Kiyotaka, and Mondo were their own little group. They brought out the best in each other and, in a lot of ways, it was the happiest she’d ever been. She’d had friends at her other schools, but because she was so quiet she was usually just pulled along for the ride. Mondo and Kiyotaka made sure to ask if there was anything she wanted to do, and some nights they played video games. When Kiyotaka started practicing kendo and got good at it, she and Mondo cheered him on from the sidelines during competitions. Mondo took them both out on his motorcycle separately, but eventually got his hands on a sidecar so the three of them could go together.

                When the World's Most Despair Inducing Incident happened, they’d started sleeping in the same room. Normally this was against the rules, but they were all shaken by the initial incident – especially Mondo, who had forced himself to hold it together for everyone else – and they were all having nightmares. This arrangement alleviated them. They rotated whose room they used at first but eventually they all unofficially called her room “home” (though it became “official” once they decided to drag the mattresses from Kiyotaka and Mondo’s old room in there as well after the school was completely sealed off from the outside world – now that they were in it for the long haul, they needed better rest than the floor could give them). All of them, not just their little trio, were scared, especially once news about everyone’s families started to filter in. They’d seen what had happened to Leon and Sayaka, and wondered if there was going to be bad news for everyone else, too.

                Kiyotaka had been the third in their class to find anything out – it was early enough that when he was called to the headmaster’s office no one assumed the worst automatically, but when he didn’t come back to class, she and Mondo got worried because that was simply something he _didn’t_ do. They found him practicing kendo in the fifth floor dojo, oddly focused on what he was doing – not that he didn’t focus when we had practicing, but something was emotionless and robotic about his motions. Worse, he was using his personal bokken; it was a gift from his parents that he’d never used out of fear that he’d damage it. When Kiyotaka saw them standing there watching him, however, he completely broke down – Chihiro had never seen him cry before, and she knew he’d gotten bad news, just like Sayaka and Leon had.

                Someone had blocked off all the exits to Kiyotaka’s apartment building before setting it ablaze.

                Chihiro was next. Headmaster Kirigiri had sat her down in his office with tea and cookies, and she remembered Kiyotaka mentioning that he’d been greeted with the same “treats”. This was apparently the headmaster’s way of trying to offer comfort to his students for what was going to be bloody, gruesome news all around, and in that moment Chihiro just _knew_ that no one was going to get good news. No one’s family was all right. No one was going to have any friends outside of the school anymore.

                Home invasion. Her parents had been home and the intruders . . .

                Chihiro didn’t remember anything that happened after that, including most of the details of her parents’ murder, but either one of her self-proclaimed big brothers found out through some other means and said it was probably best she didn’t know. She’d wandered around the school aimlessly, lost in a daze until Mondo and Kiyotaka found her in one of the hallways. She was carried back to their room – neither of them said anything at first, which she didn’t mind. Kiyotaka was still mourning his own family, and now it looked like Mondo was trying to find a way to keep the two of them from completely falling to pieces. He was at an unusual advantage, having already been a functional orphan – his mother had died when he was young and his older brother had been gone for about two years. His surrogate family, the Crazy Diamonds, were a large gang of bikers who knew how to fight – they’d be able to defend themselves, everyone assumed. Mondo told them that once everything blew over he’d make sure they were all right – anything they needed, he’d provide himself or find someone with a connection amongst the ranks of his gang to get it for them.

                When Mondo found out his gang had been wiped out by an alliance between several other gangs about a week later, he went missing for several hours before she and Kiyotaka found him with an empty bottle and a half of whiskey in the dormitory storage room, his eyes glossy and hazy from the drink. Neither of them were sure if Mondo had ever had alcohol before (he was a minor but he _was_ a delinquent so it wasn’t out of the question) but he’d clearly had way, _way_ too much. They weren’t able to get him back to their room without help from some of the other students. They’d double teamed taking care of him that night and helped nurse his hangover the following morning.

                The three of them went to the headmaster’s office together to consent to the shelter plan.

                They’d lived in the school for the next year. Chihiro wasn’t much of an outdoors person, but she missed the sun – it had been nice to be able to take her laptop outside to do homework or work on a personal project. The inside of the school, despite being well filtered, always felt stale and stagnant. The greenhouse on the fifth floor soon became a popular hangout – it was fake, but it at least smelled kind of like outside.

                And then her memories started to get fuzzy . . . she remembered being trapped in a classroom and people crowding around Kirigiri, who was screaming for her father . . . but that was about it. Something was still keeping those memories at bay. But she remembered enough. These people she’d thought she’d just met only a week ago had been her dearest friends.

                Including the one who was still begging for her to not to be dead.

                Sayaka stepped back. “You got your memories back too, huh?” she said.

                Chihiro nodded. “I, I think so.”

                Chihiro remembered Leon and Sayaka, too. Sayaka sat next to her at orientation – their _real_ orientation – and invited her to a girl’s only party the first week of school. She’d tutored Leon in computer science classes and he worked with her on a big project for art class. They’d been smitten with each other after an incident in music class that got them both in trouble and they were virtually inseparable. They’d been her friends, too – not like Mondo and Kiyotaka, but still dear friends

                _And yet they . . ._

Memories of what had transpired a few days ago filled her head. Everyone rushing to the dorms when they heard Naegi scream and finding Sayaka’s body. That first class trial as they pieced together what happened, and Leon’s subsequent nervous breakdown when he’d been found out. And then that horrific execution . . . seeing the body after . . .

                It was . . . strange. They both looked all right – Sayaka’s shirt wasn’t bloodstained or ripped, and Leon looked just the same as ever – not beaten and bruised and bloody. But amazingly, even after what they’d done to each other . . . they didn’t seem to hate each other. When Sayaka asked Chihiro about her memories . . . they must have gotten their back as well. And then she figured out the real horror behind what was going on.

                Monokuma was making them kill their friends to escape to a world of chaos and despair.

 

                Leon, Sayaka, and Chihiro sat outside of the crime scene to fill her in on what they knew about their situation. There was no way to contact the living students that they’d found (which made sense – Chihiro would have known that if it had happened).

                And it was just a matter of time before Mondo or the rest of the students . . . joined them.

                Chihiro wasn’t sure how to feel. Mondo was one of her best friends – shouldn’t she be angry he’d killed her? No, no she couldn’t bring herself to hate him or even be a little mad. This wouldn’t have happened if this “game” hadn’t been set up. Even if he’d been a gang leader, even if they were notoriously violent, they were still honorable and kept their fights to other gangs only, not innocent bystanders. It was probably the only reason he’d been allowed in the school (although hadn’t they admitted someone involved with the yakuza as well?).

                Most of all, she didn’t want him to die. She didn’t want _any_ of them to die.

                “What do we do now?” Chihiro asked.

                “Wait for the class trial, I guess,” said Leon.

                “We’re . . . still going?”

                “I know you couldn’t see me, but I was with Leon during his execution,” said Sayaka. She swallowed. “Whoever has to die shouldn’t be alone. Doesn’t matter if it’s Mondo alone or everyone else.”

                “I can’t see Mondo successfully fooling everyone – with the way he reacted in there I’m not even sure he’s going to even _try_ ,” said Leon. “He isn’t stupid, but he’s up against Kyouko and you know what? Naegi was able to piece everything together pretty neatly. Between the two of them I think Mondo’s doomed himself.”

                Chihiro wanted to yell at Leon for saying such a thing, but realized he was probably right. Kirigiri was the Super High School Level Detective – she’d been responsible for the arrests of criminals much more devious and crafty than Mondo could ever hope to be.  And Naegi had been pretty good at putting the pieces together in the first trial – maybe he’d do it again.

                Then she remembered how badly Leon had broken down when he realized he was going to die. She didn’t want to see Mondo go through that. She didn’t want to see one of her big brothers just break like that before being dragged to a death they didn’t deserve. Even if it meant maybe she’d “get him back” because he’d be a ghost and he’d probably remember . . . that wasn’t what she wanted.

                The door to the boy’s locker room opened – Mondo emerged with the rolled up carpet over his shoulder. He dropped it on the floor of the entrance hall, looked at the girl’s locker room door, and swore before hastily exiting the room. “What’s he think he’s doing?” asked Sayaka, starting to follow him. Leon and Chihiro followed suit.

                “Covering up his crime. He saw what happened to me and knows he’s next,” said Leon.

                Chihiro swallowed. It didn’t take long before Mondo was at the entrance to the school on the first floor, by the entrance. This was where Monokuma was keeping the electroIDs of the deceased students. He rifled through them before grabbing Sayaka’s, closing his eyes, and taking a few deep breaths. “What’s he going to do with that?” Sayaka asked.

                The three ghosts exchanged a confused look before following him back to the second floor, where they watched him use Sayaka’s ID to get into the girl’s locker room. The door opened, and he dragged the rolled up carpet inside. He then proceeded to roll up the carpet in the girl’s room and dragged that into the boy’s room, where he unrolled it and replaced the moved workout equipment. He paused, looked around, and settled on the poster of some girl in a swimsuit who’d gotten blood on her. He pulled it down from the wall, careful not to tear it.

                “Isn’t he worried about fingerprints?” asked Leon.

                “I don’t think they’ve got a way to check for them,” said Sayaka.

                Chihiro shook her head. “Kyouko could probably do it . . .”

                “I doubt it – her dark secret, according to Monokuma, is that she’s got amnesia,” said Leon.

                “But we all had it . . . have it . . . right?” Chihiro asked in surprise.

                “I think she’s got it worse – Monokuma probably didn’t want the Super High School Level Detective running around with memories of _being_ the Super High School Level Detective intact,” said Sayaka. “She’s the only one who hasn’t said anything about her talent, and if she can’t remember what it is that would be one explanation as to why, right?”

                By now, Mondo had brought the bloodied poster into the girl’s room and was removing the poster of a boy band from the wall. The model went up in the girl’s room, and the pretty boys were brought into the boy’s room. He set up the carpet in the girl’s room, just like he had in the boy’s room. Then Mondo knelt down over Chihiro’s body and started patting her down before finally producing her electroID.

                “Okay, I sort of get why he wanted Sayaka’s . . . but what’s he going to do with Chihiro’s?” Leon asked. Sayaka and Chihiro didn’t have a good answer for him as they watched him pocket the electroID before picking up Chihiro’s body, cradling her and resting her head on his shoulder. He was saying something softly to her as he carried her into the girl’s locker room, where he gently laid her down on the carpet, stretching her out and leaving her hands folded over her stomach.

                “That’s . . . kind of . . . you almost look peaceful, Chihiro,” said Sayaka.

                In a weird way, she kind of did. He’d closed her eyes and, if it weren’t for the blood caked in her hair, she really would have looked like she was sleeping, like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty. She didn’t understand.

                “It’s . . . it’s okay, kid,” he finally stuttered. Mondo stood, clenched his eyes shut, and swallowed. “I . . . I’m probably going to die tomorrow . . . and if I do, I deserve it. I, I know you probably think I should just turn myself in . . .” Chihiro  crept closer, her eyes locked on Mondo’s. He was crying – not a lot, but his eyes were red and watery. “I don’t . . . I don’t wanna die, but you didn’t, either. I’m just . . . I’m terrified.”

                Chihiro settled in front of him. “Mondo . . .”

                “I have promises I gotta keep on the outside. I know you’d probably think they’re just a bunch of idiots, but my gang? They’re good guys . . . mostly. I can’t let them down. My brother left me in charge and I can’t let him down, either,” he said. “They’re my family. I never had a dad and my mom was a wreck . . . I can’t . . . I can’t let them down.”

                All of the ghosts felt a little sick. They knew the Crazy Diamonds were dead. Mondo didn’t.

                “I . . . I don’t want to die like Kuwata did but if they find me out . . . and they probably will . . . I deserve it. You didn’t deserve this. And . . . and I think I’m okay with that. It’s only fair I die. But I can’t just give myself up . . . I have to keep the guys together if I can. I just . . . I don’t know what to do, okay?! I don’t want to die, I don’t want to let my gang down . . . I don’t want everyone else to die. I don’t know, okay!?”

                Chihiro covered her mouth. “Mondo . . .”

                “That’s why . . . I figured out there’s only one thing I _can_ do that I’m sure about,” he said. Mondo smiled a little, wiping his tears with his sleeve. “I’m going to protect your dignity, kid. It’s all you’ve got left, isn’t it? So, that’s what I’ve decided that no matter what happens to me, I’m going to protect your secret.”

                The ghosts froze. “Wait . . .” said Sayaka.

                “He’s . . .”

                Chihiro eyes widened.

                “They’re going to find you in here, in the girl’s room . . . so they’re gonna think you’re a girl. They don’t have to know you’re a boy and that you died in the boy’s room.” Mondo closed his eyes and patted his pocket. “I . . . kind of accidentally broke my electroID the other day. Turns out they don’t like the sauna too much, so I’m going to stick yours in there. It’ll break it so they won’t be able to see you were a dude. Doesn’t matter if I die or not – I’m taking your secret to my grave!”

                Suddenly, everything he’d done made sense. Mondo wasn’t covering up his crime.

                Even if he didn’t remember, even if he’d killed her . . . somewhere inside of him, Mondo was still her big brother, still trying to protect her – maybe it was a fragment of a memory, maybe it wasn’t, but this was the person she cared about, trying to help her one last time. It was all he could do for her now, and Chihiro started to shake.

                “Chihiro. . .” said Sayaka.

                It was all too much for her, and she started to wail.

 

                Monokuma’s morning announcement was different.

                The ghosts had spent the night in the cafeteria – not that it mattered much, but it was quiet at night. They’d followed Mondo around for a short bit and saw that he kept his word – he got rid of her electroID in the sauna, and it didn’t take long before it made an unusual cracking noise and started to smoke. He got rid of her duffel bag, too, and then went to bed but didn’t appear to be sleeping.

                “I didn’t sleep that night, either,” Leon said, “and I didn’t even know what was coming to me.”

                But now it was the following day, and it was only a matter of time before she was discovered – especially with Monokuma sending them on a hunt. No one was in the cafeteria yet, and it was difficult to say if anyone would gather there, considering the announcement. It was possible they might, just to try and figure out who was missing, but more than likely they’re start combing the first two floors of the school to try and see if could find the body.

                Chihiro pushed herself off the table she’d been sitting on. “Chihiro?”

                “I . . . I think I want to be there,” she said. “With . . . my body.”

                “Are you sure?” asked Sayaka.

                “Yeah . . . I think so,” said Chihiro. “It . . . it might be the last time I see my body.”

                Sayaka seemed to be considering this – during the trial, her body had been removed from Naegi’s room, leaving no trace it had ever existed behind. Chances are Leon’s body had been removed from the execution area. Chihiro suspected that maybe more executions were being prepared – one for Mondo, and one for everyone else.

                _If only there was a way to stop all of them . . ._

                “If you think you want to,” said Sayaka, “it’s up to you.”

                Chihiro nodded, and the three headed to the second floor. Their classmates were searching throughout the floors, trying to figure out if Monokuma was just messing with them or not. The ghosts (and Mondo, of course) knew he wasn’t, so now it was just a matter of whether or not he was going to be found guilty or not.

                The ghosts found Naegi and Togami investigating the entryway to the locker room. They were close by, so it wouldn’t be much longer now. Leon and Sayaka put their hands on Chihiro’s shoulder, giving her looks to let her know that she didn’t have to do this if she didn’t want to. It was bad enough dying and seeing her body before. This might have been worse.

                But it was okay. Mondo had tried to leave her body . . . well . . . as dignified as it could be. Right?

                Togami made note that the girl’s locker room looked suspicious. Naegi didn’t want to go in, but Monokuma assured him he’d unlocked all of the doors for “investigative purposes”. There had always been an unspoken agreement that Monokuma watched their every move on those surveillance cameras, probably so he could confirm who a culprit was in any given instance. Of course he knew where Chihiro’s body would be discovered.

                They watched Naegi enter the room, and he let out a blood curdling scream.

                Chihiro swallowed and marched forward . . . and then screamed herself.

                “Chihiro, what’s – WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED HERE!?”

                The body had been _crucified._

                Chihiro was staring at her body in horror, unable to move or speak after seeing the state of her corpse. It hadn’t been Mondo who did this – he’d gone back to his room after destroying he electroID and disposing of his duffel bag (which Yamada had made it a little too easy – he must have left the gate to the trash room open on accident, so Mondo had no trouble getting to it and using it). As far as the ghosts knew he hadn’t left, and based on his “speech” to Chihiro, it didn’t seem like something he’d go back and do. But there she was, hanging there like a limp rag doll.

                Someone else had messed with the crime scene.

                “Sayaka, let’s get Chihiro out of here,” Leon suggested. Chihiro didn’t protest as she was pulled away. They passed a frantic Kiyotaka en route to the locker rooms – he would be the required third person for the corpse discovery announcement, and sure enough the sound of Monokuma cheerfully announcing a body had been discovered followed mere second later.

                But staring at her other brother made Chihiro worried. She was gone, and if Naegi and Kyouko kept up their game from the first trial, Mondo would be, too. Even if he didn’t remember, he’d be the only one from their little trio left. And then it occurred to Chihiro that even if he didn’t remember, he and Mondo had bonded again. They were calling each other Kyoudai again, and had been hanging all over each other, finding a semblance of support with each other.

                If Mondo was found out, Kiyotaka was going to lose the only semblance of sanity he had in this place. He’d never been very good at making friends before coming to Hope’s Peak, and sure enough he didn’t have much contact with the students from his old high school or his junior high. As far as Kiyotaka was concerned, Mondo wasn’t just his _only_ friend, he was his _first_ friend, period.

                If Chihiro’s heart was still beating, it would have been pounding in her chest.

                This trial, one way or another, was going to destroy Kiyotaka.

 

                Sayaka brought Chihiro to the library while Leon returned to the girl’s locker room to see if he could figure out who had done that to her body. As shook up as she’d been by her murder, this was worse. Even though it wasn’t exactly an “accident”, Mondo definitely hadn’t planned on killing her and clearly felt awful about the whole thing. He wouldn’t do . . . _that_. Whoever did _this_ had done it on purpose and put thought into it – writing on the wall, a crucifixion . . .

                “Why would someone do that to me?” asked Chihiro. “There’s no point to it!”

                “I . . . I don’t know. But I don’t think anyone here is acting the way they normally would,” said Sayaka. “If I’d remembered . . . I would have never started this.” She looked down at her hands. “I got things started. If I had just held on . . . this wouldn’t have happened. I don’t know if Monokuma would have given us more motives until someone cracked but maybe if we had more time we could have all gotten out of here alive.”

                “Sayaka . . .” Chihiro said. She wasn’t sure how to finish that sentence.

                “My money’s on Togami.” Leon came until the library unannounced, a cross look on his face. “Mondo looked JUST as shocked as everyone else, but something about Togami was . . . I don’t know how to describe it, but he suddenly decided Naegi was going to be his assistant and dragged him off somewhere. He looks cocky and pleased with him.”

                “Why the hell would Togami do that?!” asked Sayaka. “How is messing with someone else’s crime scene going to . . . I don’t even know how to finish that sentence! That was just cruel and mean-spirited! Crucifying her?! Writing ‘BLOOD BATH FEVER’ all over the wall? That didn’t do ANYONE any favors!”

                Chihiro bit her bottom lip. “It’s a game to him,” she said. “I . . . don’t know if you guys were there or not, but when we all found the library a few days ago he said that this was just a game and we were all enemies.” She lowered her eyes. “I wanted everyone to work together . . . so we could all get out of here alive. I even took a laptop from the library and started working on something I thought might help.”

                “You fixed one of those busted laptops?” asked Sayaka.

                Chihiro’s eyes widened. “Yeah. I did. And she’s in one of the lockers in the bath house!”

                “. . . she?” asked Sayaka.

                Momentarilyu forgetting about what had befallen her corpse, Chihiro got excited. “Yes! I remade Alter Ego!” She started to laugh. “There aren’t any cameras in the bath house so I hid her in there. She’s working on decoding files on her laptop – I thought they might help us find out what was going on.”

                For the first time in a long time, Leon and Sayaka’s face lit up with hope. “Chihiro! That’s wonderful!” Sayaka and Leon rushed forward to hug her, and even though they were all still cold to the touch Chihiro could have sworn it felt warm and she felt at peace. Even if she was gone, even if she was dead, even if there was nothing she could do to stop whatever was going to come next . . . if their classmates figured out what happened, they would have hope.

 

                The Class Trial went as smoothly as it could, considering that Togami was able to get Fukawa to switch to her other personality and now the Super High School Lever Serial Killer (seriously, what the hell were the talent scouts thinking?) was not only exposed, but also present for a good portion of the trial. Better still, they were able to figure out that, despite Togami _trying to take the blame for the crime_ (which led to Leon screaming in frustration before slamming his fists and head into the wall) that both he and Fukawa were innocent.

                ( . . . well, at least for Chihiro’s murder, but Genocider Syo’s crimes were not on trial.)

                But then Kyouko wanted to go back to the crime scene. Monokuma protested at first, but decided to go for it after being promised it would make things more interesting. Everyone had trekked back to the girl’s locker room, where she had Sakura investigate Chihiro’s body one more time. Sakura seemed confused at first, but soon enough discovered the truth behind the biological sex of the corpse.

                The ghosts could see disappointment in Mondo’s face. The last thing he had tried to do for Chihiro hadn’t worked out – her classmates knew, and it was causing a stir – even Togami didn’t seem to know about it, even after all he’d done to her corpse. On the way back to the courtroom, Chihiro fell in line next to Mondo. He looked a little lost in thought, only half paying attention to what Kiyotaka was saying about the case. She tried to her hand on his arm, but it passed right through him. “Thank you for trying,” Chihiro whispered to Mondo.

                But now everything seemed to be at a standstill – they’d figured out the crime scenes were switched and that the electroIDs in the hall were important. One of them was broken, which everyone assumed had to have been Leon’s, but it looked like Mondo had swapped his broken one out for it earlier, maybe even before the murder took place – how else could he have gotten into the boy’s locker room?

                Then Kyouko brought up Chihiro’s tracksuit, suggesting that the killer and Chihiro must have had the same color tracksuit. None of the ghosts understood that logic – it had nothing to do with anything that had happened last night. Chihiro went to Mondo because she thought he was strong, not because of anything to do with his fashion sense.  

                Or at least, that’s what she thought.

                Mondo fell right into Kyouko’s trap, making note the color of both of their tracksuits. Only the murderer would have known a detail like the color of the tracksuit, since it had been disposed of, and once Naegi pointed that out, the color drained from his face. Celes (who couldn’t have done it because she had no way of getting into the boy’s locker room) confirmed Chihiro’s tracksuit was blue from their encounter earlier that night, and the final nail had been slammed into the coffin.

                “He’s done for,” said Leon. “Kyouko and Naegi aren’t gonna – _oh no_.”

                The trial was suddenly interrupted by Kiyotaka rushing to Mondo, grabbing him by the jacket, and asking him why he hadn’t tried to defend himself, and demanding, insisting that he wouldn’t do something like that and of course Naegi and Kyouko were wrong. Mondo just stared at him with this scared, panicked expression scrawled across his face as he realized that Chihiro wasn’t the only one he’d hurt.

                Chihiro covered her mouth. This was exactly what she was afraid of.

                As scared as she was for Mondo, as happy as she was that everyone else was going to live for even just a little bit longer . . . she couldn’t bear to see her other brother like this. He hadn’t been getting along too well with the other students – not everyone like the early morning meetings in the cafeteria, he’d been having trouble connecting with the others, and if Mondo died, he was going to be alone. No one remembered Kiyotaka slowly learning to relax a little around his peers when they weren’t in class, no one remembered trips to karaoke bars where he and Yamada would sing off-key duets or being a surprisingly good cook or anything that had finally brought him out of his shell.

                No one would remember the person he could be.

                Mondo lowered his head – he couldn’t look at Kiyotaka and confess at the same time.

                And it only got worse from there.

                Of course the others voted him guilty . . . except for Kiyotaka, who’d tried to vote for himself in a desperate bid to save Mondo. “Kiyotaka!” Chihiro ran to her friend, and stood before him, screaming at him. “Stop it! Get a hold of yourself! You have to hold on! Please, for me, for Mondo!” She reached for him, but her arms kept passing through him. It was bad enough she was going to have to watch Monokuma kill one of her dear big brothers, she didn’t want to watch the other one break.

                But something in Kiyotaka’s eyes was already broken.

                “Dude! You need to get a hold of yourself! Come on! Don’t do this!” Leon and Sayaka had joined her – they’d be able to help Mondo soon enough, but Kiyotaka was fading _quickly_. But it was no use – Kiyotaka was on his knees, gripping the podium as the world crashed down around him. No one else was coming to his aide – they all must have thought he was crazy for trying to defend a murderer.

                By now Monokuma was busy telling them all Chihiro’s secret in great detail, and for a moment she could feel the unpleasant stench of their gym teacher envelop her. But then he told them Mondo had killed his older brother, and something in Chihiro snapped. For as long as she could remember, she wasn’t the type to get angry – she’d start crying or run away, or someone else would come to her defense and try to cheer her up and make her feel better, especially Mondo and Kiyotaka. But now Kiyotaka was broken and Mondo was being dragged through the mud before he was going to be put out of his misery. Hadn’t he gone through enough? Hadn’t they all gone through enough? This wasn’t his idea, none of them wanted to play this stupid game, and now . . .

                For the first time in her life, Chihiro saw red.

                “YOU MONSTER!” she screamed. Chihiro left Kiyotaka to stand before Monokuma. “I HOPE YOU DIE! I HOPE YOU PAY FOR THIS! I HOPE SOMEONE RIPS OUT YOUR STUFFING AND LIGHTS IT ON FIRE!” Chihiro was crying now, but she didn’t back down – it only fueld her rage. “WHEN THE OTHERS FIND A WAY OUT OF HERE YOU’RE GOING TO PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO US! YOU’RE GOING TO GET IT! YOU MONSTER!”

                Chihiro tried to throw a punch, but it passed through the bear and she ended up falling forward on her hands and knees. Leon helped her to her feet and pulled her into a hug, patting her back and trying to calm her down. She wanted to start screaming at him, too, but realized there was no point. She couldn’t save Mondo from being humiliated or being killed. She wasn’t going to be able to get through to Kiyotaka. And nothing she could do was going to hurt Monokuma.

                _“I deserve it. You didn’t deserve this. And . . . and I think I’m okay with that. It’s only fair I die.”_

Mondo had accepted the possibility he was going to die the night before.

                Kyouko did, however, offer him one small condolence. She’d figured out why he’d destroyed Chihiro’s electroID. She knew it was to protect Chihiro. Even though he was doomed, even though there was nothing anyone could do to help Mondo now, she wanted him to know that this one act of kindness would not go unnoticed, and she wanted to make sure everyone else knew it, too.

                Monokuma announced it was time for Mondo’s punishment. Kiyotaka screamed for the bear to wait, but their tormentor gleefully ignored him as he produced his mallet from out of seemingly nowhere. The big red button was pressed with it’s cute little “ding”, signaling the start of the end. Mondo tried to turn away to walk to his execution, but he wasn’t going to be allowed that dignity. A chain and collar, just like the one that had brought Leon to his death, shot out of nowhere and closed itself around Mondo’s neck and pulled him off into the abyss, Kiyotaka and Chihiro screaming his name.

                Even if there was still a heart beat in Kiyotaka’s chest, all three of them were dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DING DANG DING DONG! Author’s Announcements!
> 
> Aw man, so I got this beta reader for the story so now hopefully the amount of typos is going to drop like a rock! I’m also probably going to have a hand in their story as well, so go check out “Give a Little Luck” if you haven’t already – the writing is very good and there are some PAINFULLY GOOD references to in-game stuff.
> 
> Also as much as it should be obvious I like the anime/video game about teenagers murderering each other . . . DID YOU GUYS HEAR THAT WE’RE GETTING A NEW DUB OF THE ORIGINAL SAILOR MOON ANIME AND IT’S GOING TO BE UNCUT AND WE’RE GETTING STARS FOR THE FIRST TIME BECAUSE I’M SHITTING RAINBOWS OVER HERE!!!!!
> 
> I can’t decide if I should actively avoid or desperately find a place for Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” for a song choice. 
> 
> Song Choice: “Magnolia” by The Hush Sound. I love this band, and there are probably going to crop up again (possibly as soon as next chapter). I call them my “hipster” band because they aren’t that mainstream or anything 
> 
> Dixxy


	5. Mad World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mondo thinks its possible he hasn't killed just Chihiro.

Haunted

By Dixxy Mouri  
Chapter Four: Mad World

 

                _At least it looks like I get to have one last ride . . . not that I deserve one._

                Mondo had been tied to his motorcycle, Monokuma sitting in front of him with his paws on the handle bars and . . . really? A pompadour. The fucking teddy bear was wearing a pompadour. _I guess I deserve to be mocked right now, too._ He looked ahead for a moment and saw one of those huge, circular cages they used for bike tricks. He’d always been tempted to try one.

                Not that he expected this to be “fun”.  He used to be fascinated by them as a kid when Daiya brought him to motorcycle expos and they watched the live demonstrations. When he’d been younger he’d always been asking if he could try it, and his brother always told him no, that he was too young and it was too dangerous, and it always made him angry because he hated being too young, but then Daiya would throw him over his shoulder, yell at him to not make a scene, and they’d go somewhere else.

                Mondo knew Daiya would have no way of actually knowing, but maybe some part of him knew that one of those cages was going to be the literal death of him. Maybe on some sort of cosmic level, some small part of his brother’s mind knew, just _knew,_ that his little brother was going to be killed in one and he’d done everything in his power to stave off fate or destiny or whatever, but now Daiya was dead and even if he wasn’t there was no way he’d be able to save him now.

                Not that Mondo wanted to be saved.

                Really, Mondo wasn’t that concerned about himself. It was bad enough he’d killed Chihiro. It was bad enough he couldn’t keep his secret for him. It was bad enough that everyone knew what had happened to Daiya. But seeing Ishimaru, his only friend here, freaking out like that back in the courtroom and hearing him screaming now . . .

                This . . . this was too much.

                The bike engine roared to life and rocketed forward. For a moment, Mondo was angry – he’d accelerated too fast, that would be bad for the bike. Then again, whatever Monokuma had in mind probably wouldn’t be good for his bike in the long run anyways. Not that the bear seemed to care – he was ejected from the bike before it entered the cage.

                For a few seconds, the bike was just going round and round and round, and Mondo was feeling sick to his stomach. If he’d eaten anything recently (he couldn’t – he hadn’t been able to eat after what he’d done to Chihiro . . . poor kid, he didn’t deserve what he’d done to him) it would have been all over the cage.

                Then came the crackling, buzzing sound.

                _Electricity._

                The cage lit up, sparks shooting across the cage in a web. Mondo screamed, the bike whipping around faster and faster, the friction of the air and the zapping of the electrical current buzzing and the sound of his own screaming was so loud he couldn’t even hear Kiyotaka anymore. It all came to a chaotic, noisy head – his body couldn’t take it anymore, he felt like he going to explode, there was a sharp pain in the middle of his chest . . .

                . . . and then suddenly he was flying. . .

                . . . and then he was falling.

                Mondo landed flat on his back. He winced, but then realized the impact hadn’t hurt or knocked the wind out of him. _Shit. Now the bear’s going to want to try again._ He wondered if he was going to do something different this time, like just flat out crash him into a wall – if he was going fast enough that would kill him. Or have him get hit by the truck that should have taken him out three years ago anyways.

                _Wait. Three years ago? But Daiya’s only been gone one year . . ._

_No. No, it’s been three years. But . . ._

                Mondo opened his eyes and nearly screamed when he saw Chihiro hovering over him. “Mondo,” he – no, _she_ , Chihiro was a _she_ – cried. He studied her for a minute. That was right. They’d been classmates for two whole years now. Her and Kiyotaka and everyone else had been together for the whole two years.

                Things at Hope’s Peak didn’t start off all that great. Mondo knew that just the reputation of the school was enough to guarantee success one day, so he’d parked his bike in the teacher’s parking lot (the student lot was just for seniors and full up anyways) and walked in like he’d owned the place. And he probably would, he figured.

                The first one he’d met had been the man who was still probably screaming for him. Ishimaru had actually been the first of their class to arrive and had been immediately put to work by the staff, directing people to dorm rooms or whatever. He was an up-tight goody two-shoes and Mondo immediately got a headache when he got a look at him. This guy was going to be a hell of a nuisance, he’d figured.

                Mondo got the notion that the feeling was mutual when he introduced himself as the Super High School Lever Bike Gang Leader. Ishimaru looked _insulted_ by the idea that they were on the same level, and for a few weeks the two of them exchanged nothing but insults, glares, and detention slips which Mondo never served – he usually just tossed them, but one day he started saving them and left them all in a neatly wrapped gift box outside of the prefect’s dorm room. Ishimaru’s reaction had been _gold,_ showing up outside _his_ dorm room unable to form cohesive sentences and waving the unwrapped box around as he tried to talk with his hands but failed. Mondo simply watched him flail while casually eating a box of Pocky, giving Ishimaru the _coup d’etat_ by offering him one of the chocolate covered cookie sticks.

                Mondo was finding that most of the other students were afraid of him (except for Sakura Oogami – probably because they both knew she could break his face if he tried anything). In particular the Super High School Lever Programmar always looked like she was going to cry whenever she so much as looked at him and ran off. This was nothing new, of course – being a Crazy Diamond let to this happening on a regular basis – but watching her run off like that made him, well, upset.

                Thing came to a head on their first day of gym class. Mondo had been just as shocked as everyone else to learn Chihiro had been born a boy, but something in him _broke_ when she started crying and their teacher wouldn’t stop. It was like beating a dog when they were down, and he saw red. Who the _fuck_ cared if this kid preferred running around in a dress? He wasn’t hurting anyone!  
                So he muscled his way between them – even at sixteen he was still much bigger than most of the teachers and used that to his advantage. But when the teacher started to threaten him, Mondo got an unexpected ally – Ishimaru. And in that moment he decided he wasn’t as big of a dork as he’d originally thought, and the two discovered they worked together _great_.

                While changing after gym, they talked – really talking, not just yelling at each other – for the first time. Ishimaru was impressed by how Mondo hadn’t been afraid to stand up for Chihiro (at least once the initial surprise had passed), and he had to admit the prefect’s vast knowledge of school regulation and knowing _exactly_ what he needed to cite was impressive. They decided it was best to check up on Chihiro and see how she was doing, but she’d changed for gym class back in her dorm room (which they all had the option to do, fairly enough, but she’d been the only one to take the school up on the offer and now they all knew _why_ ). So they decided to see if she needed cheering up.

                Then it occurred to them neither of them really knew _how_ to do that, especially with someone as shy and nervous as little Chihiro. Maybe she was hungry? Ishimaru had an extra bottle of water on him, so they decided to see if she needed to eat lunch and/or drink something. It didn’t exactly seem like the _correct_ response (her reaction to it was surprise and confusion), but she seemed to appreciate the effort, and someone got the bright idea to get dinner together.

                The meal went smoothly – they mostly talked about themselves, since none of them had much in common, but it was interesting. Ishimaru believed in hard work over everything else because of his grandfather – this was the first time that Mondo had ever thought _this_ Ishimaru was related to _that_ Ishimaru, but he understood where his gumption came from. He wanted to bring honor back to his family. They’d been well-off when he was younger, but the scandal had destroyed not only their reputation, but their finances as well – his father had a hard time keeping a job not because of anything he was doing wrong but because of the association with his shamed grandfather. Chihiro, for her part, was interested in advanced programming and was dabbling into AIs and robotics, the former of which needed to be explained to Mondo, but when he found out it meant computers that could think for themselves he was floored. She gave him some popular media examples (pretty much any” robot with a heart” had some form of artificial intelligence) and explained she was trying to program one on her own in her dorm she was going to name “Alter Ego”. She’d started it _two days ago_ and was already at the point where she just needed to fine tune it.

                Ishimaru had asked how he got involved with the gang, so Mondo talked about Daiya and how they’d started it together . . . kind of. He was only ten at the time and still too small to ride by himself, but Daiya always brought him out on the bike anyways. The gang didn’t always take him seriously at first but understood he didn’t have anyone but his older brother – his father had left before he was born and their mom had drunk herself to death. Daiya said it was important to protect your family, be it the gang or the one you were born into. He didn’t actually take any leadership roles until he was fourteen, when his brother finally felt he was old enough to ride on his own.

                For about a year, things were great. He and Ishimaru started calling each other “Kyoudai” (Chihiro preferred to stick with given names, which was fine by him). They started getting along with the rest of their classmates, but everyone had their sub-groups and confidants and best friends and significant others that they turned to in times of crisis or the people they shared their secrets with. For Mondo, this was Chihiro and Kiyotaka. He’d confided in them that he didn’t know who his biological father was when one teacher gave them a family history assignment. He’d found out in elementary school when he’d been given a similar assignment and started to notice just how much he _didn’t_ look like the man he’d thought was his father. Daiya told him the truth when he caught him comparing pictures of the Oowada family patriarch to his own reflection.

                Mondo’s biological father was some business manager director who the fuck cares from the United States _who’d already been married with five kids_ when he knocked his mother up – he made himself pretty scarce and went back to his family. For a while he’d been curious and wanted to find him, but eventually realized that this man had never thought much of his mother (she was someone to cheat on his wife with) and probably would have thought even less of him – after all, he was being primed to be the leader of a notorious biker gang, this guy wouldn’t want the association. Part of Mondo had wanted to find him anyways and show up at his front door just to mess with him.

                For Kiyotaka, he had more to do with his grandfather’s scandal than he’d cared to admit. Toranosuke Ishimaru had been a brilliant politician who’d been caught in a scandal so big even little kids were aware of it (Mondo had been five and more concerned with action figures at the time but even he knew the gist of it – he’d stolen a lot of money and everyone was angry). What hadn’t come out, however, was that he’d embezzled all that money to pay for his beloved grandson’s ransom. Kiyotaka had been grabbed off a playground near his home – he’d gotten out of his mother’s line of vision and suddenly found himself being shoved into the back seat of a car. They kept him in a basement and gave him prepackaged meals and bottled water three times a day, and there was a bucket he could use to relieve himself. He hadn’t been harmed, but he’d been frightened the whole time – it had been dark, they yelled and shrieked at him whenever his crying got loud, and he was terrified he wasn’t going to see his parents again.

                The news of the kidnapping was hadn’t reached the news outlets, likely because it was a condition of the ransom (what he’d done would still be wrong, but people would sympathize with a grandfather trying to save his grandson more than a greedy old man taking money to buy a yacht or something), but it destroyed his family. He’d come out of the situation feeling like if his grandfather hadn’t relied on natural talent he could have figured out another way to rescue him that wouldn’t have done the damage it did. Genius couldn’t save him, but maybe hard work could have.

                Chihiro’s biggest secret had already been exposed, so she sometimes tried to confide in them small things, like how she liked to count ceiling tiles if she was bored or going skinny dipping in her backyard, which was completely fenced in so it wasn’t like she was risking _much_ – Mondo said if she _really_ wanted to experience the thrill of skinny dipping then the three of them would sneak into the pool on the second floor in the middle of the night.

                (Mondo and Chihiro _still_ weren’t sure how they got Kiyotaka to go along with it).

                Of course she’d been bullied a lot as a child, both before and during those weeks and months she’d started presenting as a girl. She’d been beaten up a couple of times and ignored by her peers until her parents transferred her to a new school so she could get a fresh start. She’d been surprised that both Mondo and Kiyotaka could sympathize – Mondo had been given a hard time for being raised by his brother (apparently being a functional orphan made someone a target for bullying at Mondo’s elementary school), and Kiyotaka had seen plenty of retaliation for his acts as hall monitor at his old schools.  

                For a year, life was grand.

                And then the World's Most Despair Inducing Incident happened and the school was closed off – no one left, no one came in – only an automated delivery system provided food and other supplies from outside, and that system was rigged so no one could sneak in or out by abusing it. But almost everyone began to sulk after a while, and it seemed like nothing was going to improve. Outside was getting worse. Students in the other classes were starting to act strangely – Kiyotaka sparred with one of them regularly and said she hadn’t been herself for a while, but it seemed like more than just the solemnity of their situation that was causing it.

                The only one who seemed to have any hope about going back outside one day was Makoto Naegi, one of the Super High School Level Good Lucks who’d been enrolled at the time of the crisis. No one, not even Naegi, really understood how he’d gotten into the school because his luck really _wasn’t_ all that good, but if there was anything he had in spades, it was pure, unadulterated optimism. His belief that things were going to get better got so strong, and the bad luck surrounding his everyday life got so _bad_ , that Jin Kirigiri, the headmaster, officially changed his title:

                Super High School Level _Hope_.

                It wasn’t long after that things became a blur. Screaming and crying all over the school, being led somewhere at gunpoint, the image of Monokuma laughing as he declared a victory for despair, something about a television show . . . it was all a mess, and he couldn’t put any of it together. Whatever had caused the return of these lost memories hadn’t returned all of them, and they probably held the key to what was going on.

                But that wasn’t important right that second. One of his best friends was staring at him with tears in her eyes. He’d screwed it all up – she was dead, and it didn’t look like Kiyotaka was faring much better. All because he couldn’t keep his temper in check. All because he’d forgotten about everything that really mattered. He felt himself start to cry. “Chihiro . . . I fucked up. I fucked up real bad.”

                She frowned at him, still crying. He tried to sit up (which was a challenge because his hands were still bound up tight behind him – well _that_ was going to suck if he was stuck like that for all eternity) and saw Leon and Sayaka standing nearby, looking just as see-through and miserable as she did. “We’re all dead, aren’t we?” he asked. No one needed to confirm his suspicion, though Chihiro nodded.

                “I’m not mad, Mondo,” she said. “It’s okay – I forgive you.”

                “She pretty much forgave you immediately,” said Sayaka, taking a seat next to him.

                Mondo wasn’t sure what to say next, but that’s when he realized the device that had killed him was still going. Or, rather, it was finally slowing down. He swallowed, wondering what his body was going to look like. Chihiro, Leon, and Sayaka stopped what they were doing to watch to, and none of them expected what they saw next.

                Mondo’s body was nowhere to be seen.

                “. . . the hell?” asked Leon. “Did you get vaporized?”

                “Wait, what’s the machine on the side?” Sayaka asked. Everyone turned to look at a machine that was making a soft whirring noise near the cage Mondo had died in. No one had really noticed it before, but it looked like it had some sort of a chute that something like come out of. “Do you think Mondo’s body is inside of it?”

                “Maybe but . . . what _is_ it?” asked Chihiro.

                _Ding._

_Ding._

_Ding!_

                Out of the chute came a small plastic tub. It was butter, and it had Mondo’s face on it.

                Mondo’s jaw dropped. “. . .  wait is that . . . did he . . . _butter_?! The _fuck_?!”

                Sayaka’s face started to twitch. “Oh . . . oh _GOD_.”

                And that wasn’t even the worst part. Monokuma took the butter tub, presumably containing Mondo’s remains, and brought it to a darkened corner. A spotlight shone over to, where a small table with pancakes was waiting. The bear took a seat and began to slather the butter that had presumably once been Mondo all over the pancakes.

                “He’s not going to . . .” Leon asked in disbelief.

                They could hear someone from the remaining pool of living students vomit.

                Monokuma began to giddily devour the pancakes.

                “He’s eating me over pancakes. That fucking teddy bear is _eating me over pancakes!_ ”

                Mondo was half ready to fly into a rage, but he felt Chihiro’s arms (which were cold – apparently ghosts were cold) wrapped around his arm. She was still crying, still trying to comfort him, and the anger subsided. It’s not like it really mattered much. He was dead – he didn’t need his body anymore. It would have been nice if something . . . dignified . . . had happened to it after, but that was never going to happen here. The damn teddy bear probably had sadistic executions planned out for all them.

                More importantly, there was Chihiro. He’d ended her life in a fit of rage for no good reason. And here she was trying to make him feel better. She didn’t _have_ to. Leon and Sayaka said she’d forgiven him almost immediately – but why? “Chihiro . . . could you let go of me for a second?” Chihiro slowly backed away from him, looking at him with teary eyes.

                Mondo lowered his head. “This is my fault. It’s my fault your dead. I’m sorry, Chihiro.”

                “No, not it’s not,” she said. She knelt in front of him while Leon went around behind him (probably to do something about his hands – he could feel cold fingers trying to loosen the knot). She swallowed, composed herself, and tried to put on an angry face. “It’s all Monokuma’s fault! That stupid bear did all this! This wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t . . . if he hadn’t . . .”

                Mondo was about to agree, but with the “excitement” from the execution over, he could hear Kiyotaka’s cries again. He froze, listening to the sound of his wails. “Kyoudai!” he called. He could see him through the chain link fence – he was on his hands and knees, sobbing uncontrollably. Hagakure was trying to calm him down but to no avail – the prefect was completely inconsolable.

                “He can’t hear me . . .” he said dumbly. “KYOUDAI!” Mondo somehow got to his feet and raced to the chain link fence. “Kyoudai! _Kyoudai! Please, please, pull yourself together! Don’t fucking do this! Come on, get up! You have to survive! You have to . . ._ you have to . . .” By now the other ghosts had caught up to him, but nothing they could do or say was going to make him feel better.

                Mondo began to wonder if he hadn’t killed just Chihiro.

 

                Leon hadn’t been able to get him untied right away, but they needed to move if they wanted to get on the elevator with the other students, so for the ride back up to the school Mondo was filled in on what was going on while they continued to try and get him unbound. As far as they could tell, memories were retrieved upon death, though there appeared to be an unknown period of time that was still lost – it didn’t seem like it was a _lot_ of time that was still missing, maybe a couple of weeks at best, but enough to keep them from knowing much more about who was behind this than the survivors. There were a couple of things they had figured out, like they could pass through doors but not walls or any other solid objects. They couldn’t sleep, they hadn’t figured out how to communicate with the living, if there was a way, and there were concerns about _both_ of the twins.

                It took Mondo a minute to realize what they meant. Mukuro hadn’t been around since the entire ordeal began. Why hadn’t she been involved in this sick game? Was she all right? And Junko had been killed around the same time Sayaka and Leon died, but her ghost wasn’t with them in the elevator – had she stayed behind on the upper floors of the school? “So . . . where are the twins, anyways?” asked Mondo.

                “We don’t know,” said Leon. “Junko’s ghost never showed up as far as we know.”

                Mondo had mixed feeling about that. During their first year at Hope’s Peak, he and Junko had a “thing.” They weren’t exactly dating per se as using each other to blow off some steam (Junko liked bad boys, Mondo wasn’t about to turn down the chance to bed a super model), and for a while that arrangement worked.

                And then it got _weird_.

                “Have you ever wondered what human flesh tastes like?” had been the start of it. They’d met in her room, and she asked him the question. Mondo hadn’t been sure how to respond and said it was a weird thing to say, but then she started coming up with other bizarre, creepy anecdotes. Not long after that he found her cutting out pictures of other models from magazines and posting them on her wall without their heads. An entire wall of her dorm room was just a giant, creepy collage of headless models. He finally called it quits when he found her getting “off” to videos of dog fighting rings caught on tape.

                Something was _wrong_ with that woman. So not spending eternity with her didn’t bother him.

                But not dealing with his crazy ex was the least of his problems. He was mostly worried about Kiyotaka. He was still horribly shaken up, though at least he’d stopped wailing. Still, his expression was vacant and he wasn’t talking with the other students at all. Hagakure was trying get through to him, but it wasn’t working. If he was doing this badly, there was no one left alive who could help him. Maybe he or Chihiro could have helped but they were . . .

                Mondo swallowed. _Dead._

                Chihiro was standing next to Kiyotaka, speaking softly to him. Of course he didn’t hear her – no matter how broken he was he’d _probably_ still acknowledge one of the ghosts talking to him, right? She was trying to tell him to be strong – he needed to survive this so if the world did get better he’d be able to help rebuild Japan, and then he’d be able to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming the Prime Minister.

                Leon finished untying Mondo just as they reached the first floor of the school and everyone shuffled out. Kiyotaka made a beeline for the dorms, brushing past everyone without saying a word. Hagakure and Aoi tried to stop him, but weren’t able to catch up to him before he had holed himself up in his room and locked the door.

                Ghosts did not have this obstacle, so Mondo and Chihiro invited themselves into Kiyotaka’s room. Sayaka and Leon decided it was best to stay out of this one and patiently waited outside for the other two to check up on their hurting friend. They found him sitting at his desk, crying into his folded arms at his desk.

                “What are we going to do?” asked Chihiro.

                “I . . . I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t want to leave him alone like this.”

                “Me, neither,” Chihiro said.

                Mondo looked at the door to Kiyotaka’s dorm room – Leon and Sayaka were probably still waiting for them. “I . . . I can’t leave him here like this,” he said. Chihiro looked at him with a frown on her face. “I know, I know, he can’t see me or hear me but . . . I just can’t.” He sat down on Kiyotaka’s bed (it was strange – still soft, but wouldn’t bend to his weight – probably because he didn’t have any anymore) and put his head in his hands. “I did this to him.”

                “No you didn’t!” Chihiro took a seat next to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face into his shoulder. “It’s a bad situation . . . everyone knows that. We’re all victims here – not just me or Sayaka or you or Leon or Junko. Everyone trapped in this school is just as much a victim and we all are.”

                Mondo wished he could believe her. “Let’s stay with him tonight. Maybe he can feel us or something and maybe it’ll help.” Chihiro looked at him like she didn’t think it would work, but she nodded before politely excusing herself to let Leon and Sayaka in on their plan.

 

                “MONDO! GREAT NEWS!!”

                It was a few hours later – Kiyotaka still wasn’t asleep, but Leon had come bursting into his room. Mondo and Chihiro were sitting on the side of his bed, still quietly trying to determine if there was anything either of them could do. They turned their attention to the ballplayer, who looked crestfallen when his eyes laid on Chihiro. “Leon?”

                “Chihiro . . . have you been in here the whole time?” he asked sullenly.

                “Yeah, why?” asked Chihiro.

                Leon lowered his head. “Aoi thought she saw your ghost and I thought . . .”

                Mondo was on his feet. “She saw Chihiro?”

                “Well . . . if she’s been in here the whole time then probably not,” said Leon, “but she just came shrieking back from somewhere else about Chihiro’s ghost – she’s holed up in her room right now, terrified.” He crossed his arms. “I thought maybe you’d taken a walk or something and she saw you and maybe she can see us now or something . . .”

                Sayaka’s head and part of her upper body came through the door. “Asahina didn’t see Chihiro – she found Alter Ego in the bathhouse. The laptop must be on a sensor or something because it turned on when she walked by and, and it’s still on in there.” She turned to Chihiro. “They’ll probably investigate tomorrow and find Alter Ego. Good job, Chihiro!”

                “Alter Ego? That artificial intelligence thing you were working on?” Mondo asked.

                “Oh! Oh yes!” said Chihiro. She turned to Mondo with a smile and told him about her recreation of the program, and how she’d set her up to search the laptop she was on for anything that might help everyone escape. “It’s too late to help the four of us and Junko, but if we can get everyone else out of here . . . even the outside world is better than in here right now, isn’t it?”

                Mondo sighed. “Yeah, but if they don’t remember what outside is like right now, that’s going to do even more harm than good,” he said. “No one has anything to live for outside – maybe Naegi’s little sister and assuming nothing happened to Oogami’s dojo, that’s _it._ For _everyone_. After everything we’ve gone through already, after everything they’ve gone through and are going to continue going through until someone rescues them or they find a way out . . . what then?”

                “You’re worried about Kiyotaka,” said Sayaka, now standing in the room next to Leon.

                “Well, look at him!” said Mondo. He hung his hand and grabbed the sides of his head. “I didn’t just kill Chihiro – I’ve killed him, too! I made the game progress – I wasn’t strong enough to deal with Monokuma and now I . . .”

                Chihiro stood before him and grasped the collar of his jacket. “Mondo, please stop.”

                “Chihiro, I _fucking killed you! Why are you being so nice to me!?_ ”

                “Because I told you! It’s not you! It’s Monokuma!” she yelled, shaking him a little (which shocked Mondo – sure she had a lot of emotional strength but she did _not_ have a lick of physical strength and he was not easily moved). She clenched her eyes shut. “I heard what you said to me after you moved my body into the girl’s locker room.”

                “Y, you did?” he asked.

                “Every word,” said Chihiro. “When I died Leon and Sayaka were around and trying to help me with what happened and we saw you switching the crime scene around. At first we thought you were just trying to get away with it because you saw what happened to Leon, but . . . I saw how you left my body. And what you said. And I started crying,” she said, pressing her hand to his chest, “that somewhere inside, even if you didn’t remember, you were trying to protect me.”

                Mondo’s expression melted. She was right. It was like something in him had remembered. Something in him remembered that Chihiro was one of his best friends, and having her secret exposed would have destroyed her – even if she was dead, even if he was the one who’d killed her . . . he was always her big brother. He pulled her into a bear hug, squeezing her tight. “I’ll never, ever hurt you again, Chihiro,” he said. “Never.”

                “I know.”

 

                Everyone but Kiyotaka found Alter Ego the next day, and it went fairly well. They were going to be smart about not visiting the laptop if it wasn’t necessary and the little AI was allowed to keep scanning her laptop for information. Chihiro was rewarded with a group hug from the other ghosts and several congratulatory slaps on the back for a job well done.

                Unfortunately their celebration was short lived. Monokuma summoned everyone to the gym.

                “Great, what’s Evil Winnie the Pooh want now?” Mondo grumbled as the ghosts headed to the gym as well. They might as well be prepared to see what might or might not kill another of their classmates. “Tch. What’s it going to be this time? Maybe he’s got a giant pile of money that he’s going to offer them if they kill someone.”

                It was a giant pile of money. Ten billion yen, to be exact.

                Mondo was slightly amused he was right – he wasn’t crazy that another motive had cropped up, but this seemed like one that wouldn’t actually trigger another killing. “Well, that’s a relief – I don’t think anyone here will kill for money. Celes and Togami both have way more than that stashed away and while Hagakure is hurting for it, I think he’s just smart enough to know he isn’t smart enough to get past Naegi and Kirigiri.”

                “So then who does Monokuma think will cave to that kind of motive?” asked Leon.

               

                The following night, something awful happened.

                Well, it looked like it was going to be something good at first. For the first time since Mondo’s execution, Kiyotaka had spoken to someone – he’d sought out Naegi for something. Mondo and Chihiro hadn’t been close enough to hear what (Kiyotaka was still not his usual, um, “not quiet” self) but soon enough Naegi was leading him somewhere, a look of relief on his face. Mondo and Chihiro exchanged the same look – even if they weren’t going to be all right, at least one of them was going to be all right.

                Or so they thought.

                Kiyotaka had asked to be taken to Alter Ego (or at least that’s what they assumed – they’d run into Kirigiri and Naegi told her something else, but then took him to the bathhouse). That went against the rules about seeing the laptop when not necessary, but it seemed as if Naegi was ignoring the rule what looked like the prefect’s best interests at the time. Alter Ego greeted him kindly, instantly recognizing him and greeting him kindly, just as she was apt to greet any of the students.

                Kiyotaka asked Alter Ego if he forgave Mondo for killing her.

                Mondo was shocked. Kiyotaka hadn’t had anything to do with Chihiro’s death. Why the hell would he think he was to blame? “He’s . . . asking me for forgiveness?” Chihiro asked incredulously. “Well . . . asking Alter Ego for my forgiveness on your behalf?” She shook her head. “Is that why he’s been upset the past couple of days? He blames himself for my death?”

                “That doesn’t make any sense,” said Mondo.

                By now, Alter Ego had taken an interesting course of action. Instead of using a digital image of Chihiro’s head for its avatar, it had switched to one of Mondo. The program was using the new avatar, complete with a very good approximation of his voice, to give Kiyotaka a pep talk about being a man and how it was okay for him to be upset and the burdens of a man . . . something to that effect.

                “That’s . . . not too far off from what I might have said,” Mondo muttered.

                Chihiro blushed. “I do my best.”

                But then that “something awful” happened.

                Kiyotaka started to act strange, talking about how he could feel “his” spirit, how his body was absorbing him, and something about him seemed to be glowing. Naegi stepped back, more than a little scared (as were Mondo and Chihiro – what were they watching, exactly?). Kiyotaka declared that he was absorbing “him” and their bodies were becoming one, and all anyone in the room could do, alive or dead, was watch in abject horror.

                “Uh . . . what’s he doing?” asked Chihiro.

                “ . . . I have no idea,” said Mondo.

                Something was very, very wrong. Kiyotaka’s hair was suddenly white, and his eyebrows looked like they were aflame. It was almost as if there was a strange glow about him, and the ghosts could only watch in horror. Was this some kind of supernatural occurrence? What was happening to their dear friend? Naegi looked concerned, but when he asked if he was all right, Kiyotaka simply snapped that “Ishimaru” was gone and that he was “ME” before running off.

                “KYOUDAI!” Mondo screamed. He took off after Kiyotaka, horrified at what he was seeing.

                Kiyotaka had completely snapped.

 

                It wasn’t until the next day that they actually figured out what had happened . . .

                . . . or at least what Kiyotaka “thought” had happened.

                It was prompted by the survivors gathering in the bathhouse because of a mistake one of them had made. Sometime after the incident with Kiyotaka in the bathhouse, Yamada had let himself in and spent the night talking freely with Alter Ego about his various obsessions and had . . . developed feelings for the AI.

                “Aw, Chihiro, I think Yamada’s going to make a GREAT son in law,” Leon had teased.

                Chihiro frowned. “I don’t think this is a laughing matter, Leon.”

                “What’s the worry? The current motive is kind of bogus so for the moment everyone’s safe and let’s be honest – Yamada falling in love with a computer is _funny_. I’m dead and eternally trapped in a school, so I’m going to take _any_ laugh that comes my way right now, thank you very much.” He held his hands up and formed a rectangle with his index fingers and thumb. “I think the laptop would look adorable in a little veil. The others could get Yamada a top hat, it’ll be real classy.”

                “Leon . . . no,” said Sayaka.

                But then Kiyotaka had burst in and declared that “Kyoudai” was his. When asked what he was talking about, he screamed that he wasn’t “Ishimaru,” but he was the combination of “Ishimaru” and . . . “Oowada”. He declared that he was now “Ishida,” and if he still had a stomach Mondo was pretty sure it would be churning.

                “He thinks he’s me, or that my ghost is possessing him or something,” said Mondo.

                Sayaka raised an eyebrow at him. “You didn’t did you?”

                “What? _NO!_ ”

                “. . . positive?”

                “ _SAYAKA! I DIDN’T POSSESS ANYONE!_ ”

                Naegi explained to the other survivors what had happened the night before. Even if it seemed like it had been a good idea at the time, letting Kiyotaka talk to Alter Ego had done something to him. All it did was make Mondo feel even worse than before. Killing Chihiro, sending Kiyotaka into a tailspin, and now this? He wanted to be sick.

 

                The bars in front of the trash room counted as something ghost’s couldn’t pass through, so Mondo settled for sulking just outside of the incinerator chamber. After all, he was garbage, and this was where garbage belonged, right? He’d ruined two lives – Chihiro’s was over, and Kiyotaka . . . was there even a way to help him now? Maybe if the world wasn’t over there’d be some sort of doctor of shrink or someone who could do something but . . . all those people were probably gone or hard to find now. Not that they could help him while he was trapped inside the school anyways.

                Chihiro, Leon, and Sayaka found him sometime later but he told them to leave him alone. They eventually did, and he spent a long time there. He didn’t want to move, and not having to eat or use the bathroom or any made that a lot easier. He heard the night time announcement, followed by a morning announcement.

                Sometime after the morning announcement he felt hands on his shoulder. “Mondo, we’ve got a problem!” she said.

                “Why are you asking me?” he asked.

                “Alter Ego’s gone.”

                Mondo looked up at Chihiro in shock. “Wait, what?”

                “She disappeared last night. Kirigiri checked on her this morning but she wasn’t in the bathhouse.” Chihiro looked completely crestfallen. Alter Ego had been what she’d put all of her hope into and what everyone’s hopes had been riding on since her discovery. She might be the only thing that could get the living students out of the school, so with her gone missing . . .

                “Do you guys know where she went?”

                “No idea – we checked Kiyotaka and Yamada’s rooms.”

                Mondo raised an eyebrow. “Huh?”

                Chihiro sat down. “Oh, right, you missed that. Um . . . they got into a nasty fight over Alter Ego yesterday after you ran off. It got bad enough that Kirigiri ordered her to scream if either of them got close to her unsupervised, but right now? No one can find her. Neither of them are claiming responsibility but . . . Mondo, this is really bad.”

                “Yeah . . . it is,” he said. “Do you need me to-?”

                Mondo was cut off by a low, gurgling growl. The ghost froze and turned to the source of the growling – it was coming from down the hall, near the bathrooms. “That doesn’t sound like anything that’s been in the school,” said Chihiro. Mondo nodded in agreement and got to his feet. He ushered Chihiro behind him and crept towards the bathrooms, wishing he’d had a knife or something on him when he died. Not that he was sure it would do any good, but he would have felt a lot better with one.

                The profile of a wolf with midnight black fur crept out from around the corner. It’s visible eye was red and swollen, and foamy pink drool was oozing from its muzzle between yellowing teeth. It spotted them and turned its head, revealing the left half of its body was white as snow. It turned to face them, and the ghosts froze in fear.

                This wolf . . . was just like Monokuma. Half white, half black. Half hope, half despair.

                “. . . what the hell is that?” asked Mondo.

                “I . . . I don’t know,” said Chihiro.

                The wolf crouched, readying itself to pounce.

                “Let’s not hang around to find out!” Mondo yelled. He picked up Chihiro, threw her over his shoulder, and ran.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DING DANG DING DONG! Author’s Announcements!
> 
> Next chapter is going to break from the current pattern we have going, though I’m not sure exactly which direction to take it in. I’ll figure it out.
> 
> Song choice: “Mad World”. Now there’s actually a couple of versions of this song I’m aware of – one by an 80’s band called Tears for Fears, and the Gary Jules version, which is heavily associated with the film Donnie Darko. The one I had on rotation was the Gary Jules version, though I PROBABLY have that Tears for Fears album SOMEWHERE.
> 
> Dixxy


	6. La La La

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leon and Sayaka discuss a future they won't have before outrunning the wolf monster with Mondo and Chihiro. Elsewhere, Mukuro reflects on the life she had.

Haunted

By Dixxy Mouri

Chapter Five: La La La

 

_6:00 pm_

Alter Ego . . . was missing.

                To say Sayaka looked a little upset was an understatement, and Leon wished there was something he could do to cheer her up. She’d placed all of her hope on that laptop, but now it was missing and . . . that was downright depressing. Alter Ego was the other student’s only hope of survival, so without that laptop they were doomed. Doomed to keep playing this killing game until only one of them was left, and then that one person would “graduate” and find out what had happened to the outside world and realize they were all alone . . .

                It was almost too much.

                “I’m sure they’ll figure out what happened,” said Leon. The two were sitting in the locker room outside the bath house to get a change of scenery – it was really one of the only reasons to “be” anywhere anymore, seeing as things like sleeping and eating were lost to them. Mondo had decided to sulk by the trash room for the past several hours (probably close to a whole day at this point) and Chihiro had gone to check on him again. Kiyotaka’s transformation had freaked all of them out, as it was the worst breakdown anyone had suffered without committing a murder.

                _Yet._

                Leon wondered if, in this broken mental state, Kiyotaka actually was capable of killing someone. The _real_ Kiyotaka? Hell no. He was absolutely of the mindset that the best course of action would have been to wait for rescue or find an escape route that didn’t involve killing another student. Following the rules was his _thing_ – he didn’t drink, he didn’t date (though that one wasn’t due to a lack of interest – Kiyotaka had a PAINFULLY obvious crush on one of the girls in their class), he was never late to class, none of that. He wouldn’t kill anyone.

                But a stressed out Kiyotaka who believed he was being possessed by the ghost of the leader of a violent biker gang? Maybe. Maybe _that_ version of Kiyotaka would soil the pristine white uniform he was so proud of. Leon didn’t like the idea – he didn’t like the idea of _any_ of his classmates getting blood on their hands. It was bad enough Sayaka had tried and he and Mondo had actually done it – he just wanted it to stop.

                “Leon . . . what if this is linked to another murder?” she asked.

                “Huh?” he asked. Sayaka had a melancholy air about her, and Leon felt himself go a little colder than he already was. “Why? Alter Ego is trying to help them escape – why would taking her out of the picture make any sense? They need her to get out of here. Maybe . . . maybe Monokuma found it and he took off with her.” Well, _that_ wasn’t a happy thought. Monkuma finding Alter Ego would have been a complete disaster.

                “I . . . I don’t know . . . but Kiyotaka and Hifumi got into a nasty fight over her . . . I mean, I don’t know how that would work but . . . it looks like everyone’s falling apart. If they keep getting into fights like this no one is going to be left, and I don’t want everyone to die,” she said. She clenched her fists. “How horrible would it be if the next reason someone killed didn’t have anything to do with that money? That it was something one of us started?”

                Leon nearly felt ill. “The bear would just love that, wouldn’t he?” he said. He scoffed, but took a seat next to Sayaka. “We need to have faith that the others are going to find a way out of this, okay?” He squeezed her hand – it was cold, like it always was now, but they were all getting used to the sensation of touch lacking a sense of warm. Leon was starting to say something else when his eye caught something glowing from inside one of the lockers.

                “Leon?” Sayaka asked.

                “Is that . . .” Leon stood and crept closer the locker. Wondering if the door of a locker was one of the things they could pass through, he tried to stick his face in. It worked, but just barely – he couldn’t move through the rest of the structure, but he could get enough of his head in to see Alter Ego quietly waiting inside of the locker, still analyzing her laptop. “I found her! I found Alter Ego!”

                “You did!?” asked Sayaka, who virtually materialized at his side as soon as she’d heard.

                Leon stepped away and nodded. “She didn’t go very far – she’s just been in a different locker.”

                Sayaka stuck her face into the locker to confirm this. Something about her posture showed that she was happy at first, but then her shoulders sank as she pulled away and looked at him with a frown on her face. “I can see that but . . . well, why? Why would they just move her like this? Wouldn’t someone take her to their room?”

                “Not with all the cameras in the dorms – it might not make the other students wise to what happened, but it would alert the bear,” said Leon. “None of the laptops in the library were working, so no one should have any kind of interest in one of them – he’d get suspicious if someone was using one, don’t you think?”

                “Chihiro fixed the one Alter Ego is on,” said Sayaka.

                “Yeah, but computers are her thing – he wouldn’t be surprised if she was trying to get one to work, either to pass the time or, well, maybe incorporate it into a murder, I guess. Besides, she’s dead now and Monokuma might not think she’s a threat anymore,” said Leon. “Although she kind of is – as long as Alter Ego is around, Chihiro’s got a hand in the outcome of this whole situation.”

                “Yeah . . .” said Sayaka. “But I still want to know why she’s in there.”

                “Kirigiri probably moved her so no one else would,” said Leon, starting to move towards the hallway. He didn’t quite believe himself, and he was sure Sayaka knew he didn’t, either – sure Kirigiri had been really secretive since the ordeal started, but something that everyone already knew about? Why would she hide that? “She probably lied about it to cover her tracks and keep everyone from looking in the other lockers – if everyone thinks Alter Ego was stolen they’ll look everywhere else first, right? Why would a thief keep the object in the same room?”

                Sayaka thought about this for a second, and then raised her index finger to make a point. “Well, haven’t you heard of hiding something in plain sight?” she asked, following him. Leon raised an eyebrow, not getting it. “Mystery writers have their characters do it all the time, so whoever moved Alter Ego probably got the idea from there.”

                Leon laughed. “Well that sounds like a terrible place to hide something.”

                “Oh really? Let’s say someone stole an autographed Babe Ruth baseball – would anyone look for it in a bin with the extra balls a team used for practice? Of course not – it would blend in with the other balls and everyone would assume it was just like the rest and start looking through lockers or offices or backpacks or something.”

                “Huh. That’s really smart, Sayaka,” said Leon.

                “Well, no offense, but I was always the brains of our little operation,” she said sweetly.

                Chuckling, Leon put his arm around her. “I can’t argue with that.”

                Sayaka rested her head on his shoulder. “You had the passion, though.”

                “I thought you were the one who found the condoms in the nurse’s office-“

                Sayaka blushed. “I wasn’t talking about _that_ ,” she said. “You were the romantic one, I mean.”

                “That _lead_ to romance.”

                “. . . it did, but that’s not what I meant. You’re the one who loved the big, romantic gestures. Like, if we’d gotten to a point where we were going to get engaged, you would have come up with something stupidly elaborate, and I would have yelled at you for spending all that money on the setup, whatever it was.”

                Leon paused, swallowing. “I, um, not that it matters but . . . what would have you have said?”

                “You mean would I have accepted a marriage proposal from you?”

                Leon paled. For a moment, he’d forgotten where they were and how they’d gotten there. He’d forgotten they were dead, because for a fleeting moment things were the way they used to be, just the two of them talking, but it had all come crashing back down around him as memories of the night of Sayaka’s murder and the afternoon of his execution came flooding back to him. “I . . . I’m sorry.”

                “For what?”  
                “We shouldn’t be talking about stuff like this,” he said. “Since . . . we can’t, you know?”

                Sayaka hugged him, squeezing him tightly until he returned the embrace. “I . . . I know. But probably should talk about things like this. We died young – we should be mourning the lives we didn’t get to lead. And . . . our future as a couple would have been a part of those lives,” she said.

                They stood in the hallway in silence for several moments. The embrace was still cold, but neither of them wanted to let go. It wasn’t something they’d talked about yet, before or after they’d died. The closest they’d gotten to discussing their future as a couple had been when they’d been channel surfing one day and found some American movie about brides, and Sayaka had commented she thought the dress was ugly and when she got married she wanted to pick out something prettier.

                “I . . . I thought this conversation was supposed to be happy . . .”

                “I wish I hadn’t asked. I’ve hurt you enough – I don’t want to hurt you anymore. Not ever.”

                “I’m not sorry you brought it up.

                Leon was surprised by this. “Sayaka . . . I know we keep saying we’re sorry, but I _killed_ you.”

                “And I tried to kill you, too.”

                “So where does that leave us?”

                They didn’t have an answer for each other.

                “ _RUN!_ ”

                Leon and Sayaka turned to see Mondo running straight for them, Chihiro over his shoulder. Temporarily forgetting their heart to heart, the idol singer started yelling. “Mondo, what the hell are you doing!? Put her down this instant!” Sayaka insisted. “This is no time for whatever the hell the two of you are doing-“

                That was when the wolf creature came into sight. It was a little larger than a normal wolf (or at least Leon guessed it was – it had been a while since he’d seen one, and even then that had been at a zoo), but that wasn’t what was scary about it. No, the beast had a body very similar to Monokuma’s – the right half of its body looked almost like a normal wolf, except white, but the left half was pitch black and sporting a pulsating, bloody red gash for an eye.

                “I STAND CORRECTED! DON’T PUT HER DOWN AND KEEP RUNNING!” The ghosts screamed and bolted towards the dorms, the wolf skittering on the tile floor as it struggled to make the turn, but was soon scampering after them, howling and snarling and growling in pursuit of its prey.

                “WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING!?” Leon yelled.

                “I DON’T FUCKING KNOW! IT JUST SHOWED UP!” Mondo yelled.

                Chihiro, who was being carried in such a manner than she could see everything behind Mondo, was screaming shrilly as she clung on for dear life. She was no athlete and had she not been carried, she would have easily fallen behind and fallen victim to whatever that wolf wanted with them.

                “Do we even know if it can hurt us?!” Sayaka asked.

                “ _DO YOU REALLY WANT TO TEST THAT THEORY?!”_ Mondo called back.

                The ghosts led the wolf in circles around the dorms – past the trash room, past the dorms, past the laundry room, and past the trash room again and again and again. On one pass Leon noticed Yamada heading somewhere, but by his non-reaction to the wolf it seemed as if this creature was the ghosts’ problem and theirs alone. _Well, at least we don’t have to worry about the others being eaten by this thing – just US being eaten by this thing!_

                “WE ARE ACCOMPLISHING NOTHING!” Sayaka screamed.

                “WELL WHAT DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD DO!?” Mondo yelled back.

                “ANYTHING THAT’S ACTUALLY GOING TO GET RID OF THIS THING!”

                “ _HE’S GAINING ON US!_ ” Chihiro shrieked.

                Leon turned his head. The wolf was _terrible_ at banking turns, and he watched it crash into Asahina’s door. He looked straight ahead again, afraid of falling behind and getting caught by the beast. _We can’t keep this up forever . . . we still get tired . . . we won’t be able to do this much longer . . . what now, what now, what now!?_

                It was then that he got an epiphany, and for the first time in, well, maybe ever, Leon felt like a genius. “I’VE GOT AN IDEA! FOLLOW ME!” Leon yelled. He veered away from their current pattern and headed for the dormitory exit, checking to make sure Sayaka and Mondo were following him – they were, but didn’t seem to know what he had planned.

                They raced down the halls, passing by the first floor classrooms and the AV room. As they passed the entrance to the courtroom elevators and the infirmary ( _Good, we’re almost there! Just a little bit more and we’re home free!_ Leon had thought to himself), Mondo started yelling around. “WHERE ARE WE GOING?!”

                “GYM!” said Leon. “JUST TRUST ME, I THINK THIS’LL WORK!” They banked right past the first floor bathrooms and headed into the trophy room. The doors to the gym, just like Leon had wanted, were closed. _Bingo! Let’s hope this works!_ “HANG A RIGHT AS SOON AS YOU GET IN THE GYM AND DON’T STOP RUNNING UNTIL IT’S SAFE!”

                “WHAT?!” Sayaka asked.

                The ghosts passed through the gym doors . . . but the wolf crashed into them, howling and clawing at the door, unable to get through the barrier. The ghosts slowed to a stop, those who had been running bending over to catch their breath . . . or at least something that resembled “catching their breath”, seeing as none of them were actually “breathing” anymore. Leon wasn’t sure if it was a reflex or something else, but what was important was that they were inside the room and the wolf was not.

                “How did you know it couldn’t pass through doors?” asked Sayaka.

                “It crashed into Asahina’s door during one our laps in the dorms,” said Leon. He sat down, still shaking from what had just happened. “We needed a big room with a door in case I was wrong so we wouldn’t lose momentum and be able to keep running. Any other room on this floor and we would have been screwed.”

                “Maybe, but now we’re stuck in here,” said Mondo.

                “And it’s stuck out there – we don’t have a way of fighting that thing off so we have to wait for it to get bored or something and leave,” said Leon. “But now at least we know it’s confined to the halls so if we see it or one of its friends, we know how to avoid them.”

                “Its ‘friends’? You think there’s _more_ of them?” Sayaka asked in horror.

                “W, we can’t rule out the possibility,” said Chihiro. “We don’t know what that thing is!”

                “Or why it looks like Monokuma,” said Mondo. “Isn’t the bear a robot?”

                “. . . yeah?” Leon asked, not sure where he was going with this.

                “Well, whatever that wolf thing is, it isn’t man made like Monokuma – it’s some sort of spirit creature, like us. So why do they look so similar?” he asked. “That thing is some sort of demon or ghost or monster – not a robot. No one else can see it but the four of us, and just like us it can’t do anything with the stuff in the living world so no one’s going to find mysterious claw marks or something. So, again – how is it that the mastermind behind all of this was able to design a robot teddy bear that looks like a real ghost/demon/monster/whatever-the-fuck-that-thing-is if they couldn’t have possibly seen one before?”

                It was a solid point, and added yet another mystery to their whole situation – now on top of trying to figuring out who was behind this and what was going on in the land of the living, the ghosts had a problem of their own. What was that thing, and how and why did it look like Monokuma? The ghosts exchanged a worried look. It seemed as if they weren’t as alone in the school as they originally thought they were after all.

                And as luck would have it, they were about to have a long time to think it over.

               

_10:05 pm_

While the ghosts were trapped in the gym, two of the living students found notes had been slipped under their doors. Even if Alter Ego was missing, someone had possibly found a way out of the school – all they needed to do was stay quiet, not talk with the others about it in the open, and meet everyone at the designated time and place.

                Hagakure burned his note, having committed it to memory.

                “Ishida” stuffed it carelessly in his pocket – that is what Kyoudai would have done, he believed.

                Neither of them knew that three more lives would be lost in less than twenty four hours.

 

_2:00 am_

Mukuro hadn’t known what to do with herself since she’d died, except for one thing: hide.

                It had been bad enough Junko had decided to kill her – it was the only explanation for what had happened after Mukuro played her part following the murder of Sayaka Maizono. But when? Had she done something wrong during those first five days? Was she failing to live up to her baby sister’s expectations again?

                Not there was anything unusual about that. As long as Mukuro could remember, she’d never been good enough for Junko. She’d tried to her hardest to bring her despair, but the only despair she could bring her was disappointment. It was never sad of devastating enough for her twin. Joining the army so she might be killed in combat hadn’t worked. Being dateless for school dances and being miserable and alone in her dorm room hadn’t worked. No amount of misery Mukuro put herself through was enough to satisfy Junko.

                Not even helping her end the world . . . not even setting in motion the events that had so far killed four of their classmates had been enough in the end. Even after she’d died she felt like she had the blood of Sayaka Maizono, Leon Kuwata, Chihiro Fujisaki, and Mondo Oowada on her hands. And she wondered how much dirtier they were going to get.

                But that didn’t change her current predicament. Not long after her demise, she realized she wasn’t the only restless spirit wandering the halls of Hope’s Peak Academy. She spotted the ghost of Sayaka Maizono amongst the living students who had been, at the time, investigating her murder, and she quickly made herself scarce.

                Mukuro wasn’t ready to face any of the other students yet.

                And it had been a hell of a challenge to keep from getting spotted, especially once Maizono wasn’t alone anymore. Kuwata hadn’t been a challenge to contend with – apparently death had restored her classmates’ memories (which was another reason to avoid them) and the lovebirds had apparently forgiven each other, so they usually weren’t too far apart and avoiding one meant avoiding the other.

                Fujisaki’s death and Oowada’s execution had proved MUCH trickier. While the four of them did spend a lot of time together, there were more of them and it was more likely they’re split off from each other, so she’d needed to keep an even better eye out. At first it hadn’t been too bad since they’d been following around the third member of their little trio (the dorky prefect), who (for the moment) still had a heartbeat in his chest, but once he’d lost his final marble and decided he had absorbed the biker like some sort of “ghost sponge” they hadn’t been a keen on that anymore. Not because they’d stopped caring – on the contrary, it was evident that seeing him like that was painful for them.

                This evening, Mukuro had stayed on the third floor – there was some sort of commotion on the first floor amongst the four dead students that she’d decided to avoid (there’d been a lot of screaming, whatever it was) and this gave her sufficient distance from the unpleasantness. And meant she could stave off having to see any of them.

                How could she, after all? Despite how much Junko told her that she shouldn’t like being happy or having hope, she really did enjoy spending time with her classmates and, well, she decided feeling that way wasn’t so bad. It hadn’t been so fun at first with all of the fighting and awkwardness, but eventually the sixteen of them – even her and Junko – had formed a social group that, at any other school, wouldn’t have existed. Some of them might have been friends in other settings, sure, but some of them wouldn’t have so much as given the time of day to some of the others. The poor met the wealthy. The squeaky clean met the rough around the edges. The quiet met the loud, and masters of the human body met masters of the human brain.

                Despite the dirty looks Junko would shoot her, Mukuro found herself enjoying their company. Over time she discovered they all had their nice sides, and they were all learning a lot about each other. They readily accepted her, and even Junko, as one of them. They were invited to parties or to go out with the others on day trips or even just to sit and eat lunch with someone in the cafeteria. Togami invited everyone to enjoy the luxuries he had (the “small boat” his family owned had _two pools_ ). They went to Kuwata’s games and Asahina’s swim meets. Maizono got them front row seats to concerts and music shows.

                It was amazing. Sure, Junko was invited to fashion shows all the time, but she never invited Mukuro. The idea that someone might want to invite her to go somewhere was practically a foreign concept to her, and she’d been shocked the first few times it had happened. Sure, once a lot of the tension those first few weeks had died down, people were trying to get to know each other so their conversation partners were rather indiscriminate so they were talking to everyone . . . but that included her. She found herself having real conversations with people who weren’t her sister. She’d never really had that before. In Fenrir it was all about the mission, with some of the men talking about their sexual conquests or their girls back home (. . . and sometimes both at the same time, which made Mukuro sick). They weren’t always terribly deep conversations – a lot of introductions, trying to find common ground, that sort of thing, but eventually those deeper, meaningful interactions happened. That was when she started getting invited to things – her classmates, it seemed, wanted to get to know her better.

                Mukuro had never felt wanted before.

                “ _Tch. They’re probably just using you for something, Muku-chan. Like getting in good with me._ ”

                Well, maybe that was true . . . Junko was a super model, after all. She had influence – not real power (well, not until after the World's Most Despair Inducing Incident, anyways) but she could get places where most people couldn’t with a wink and a smile. Sure, she wasn’t the most influential of their classmates (that person had to be Togami, hands down), but she was up there. Mukuro wasn’t that kind of person – she took orders, she didn’t give them. What would she do with that kind of influence, anyways?

                But wasn’t just friends Mukuro wondered about. What if one of the boys would ask her to one of the dances or out on a date – what was that like? She’d seem couples before and they always looked so happy . . . except for that one time Junko dated Oowada. She’d lured him in with the promise of sex with a super model (which, to be fair, she’d delivered on – she’d caught him in her sister’s room in various states of undress), and then proceeded to invent all sorts of things to mess with his head. She’d been _ecstatic_ when he finally dumped her over the dog fighting videos on the Internet. Mukuro had thought that was going too far – you couldn’t tell by just looking at him, but the guy had a soft spot for animals, especially dogs. She was glad it ended when it did – not that she thought Oowada would make a bad brother-in-law, because he really wouldn’t, but because he didn’t really deserve the treatment Junko would have given him if she became the ball attached to the end of his chain.

                But, well, maybe she could have love one day – real love, not whatever it was Junko did when she dated. There were other boys in their class, and most of them were single, and they all had their strong points and weak points. The only two who Mukuro really considered off the table were Oowada (since it would probably be a bit awkward to date him after what Junko had done) and Kuwata (since he was already involved with Maizono, despite Junko’s best efforts to try and cause a despair inducing breakup between the two). That left Naegi, Ishimaru, Yamada, Hagakure, and Togami. Ishimaru could be a bit TOO invested in the school rules sometimes, but he was genuine, honest, and a hard worker – Mukuro respected that. Togami was rich and gorgeous, but tended to be an asshole if he didn’t consider you part of his inner circle (which, by the time the World's Most Despair Inducing Incident happened everyone in their class had that dubious status, though Mukuro wasn’t sure why Togami would want someone like her around). Hagakure was cheerful and fun loving, but often smelled like pot and she had reservations about someone his age still being in high school. Yamada was passionate about what he did and was so sincere in his enjoyment that it was hard to find fault with it, but he was horribly awkward – getting better, but still horribly awkward (then again so were some of the other boys so it wasn’t a unique flaw).

                But there was something about Naegi that made her heart sing, and it had all started with a smile. She wasn’t sure why – he was small and wiry, not the kind of man she figured she would be attracted to, and much younger looking than most of the other boys, but he consumed more of her thoughts than she would readily admit to anyone but Junko. He was so sweet, so kind, so hopeful about everything. That optimism and happiness was so different from what she was used to. He was like an enigma to her, some sort of forbidden fruit that Junko would never allow her to taste.

                Of course he seemed to have an interest in the Super High School Level Detective, so it appeared that this wasn’t meant to be. This . . . didn’t bother Mukuro as much as she thought it was supposed to. Seeing Naegi happy was enough for her, and if he thought he could find happiness with Kyouko Kirigiri, well, she didn’t want to make him unhappy by denying him that, as much as Junko might think the alternative was preferable. Perhaps it was because she was too scared or too shy to approach him on the subject, or didn’t think she was good enough for him, but she was content to admire him from afar.

                Junko thought it gave her despair. It really didn’t. Even if it meant she couldn’t have him, the thought of Naegi being happy was all right with her. She wouldn’t quite describe the emotion as “happy” or “hopeful” so much as “content”. There was something sincere and pure about his kindness and happiness – something Mukuro didn’t have. That was why she clung to her virginity – it was the only “purity” she had that remained. The only good, clean thing about her. Naegi radiated those things, and Mukuro was drawn to them like a moth to a flame.

                Sometimes Mukuro wondered if any of them would approach her and ask her if she’d like to have dinner with them, or see if she was available for a school dance. She would have preferred Naegi, but really, all of them had their good points and she decided she would give any of the others a chance. Hagakure was fun, Togami was classy, Ishimaru was earnest, Yamada was empassioned, Oowada was protective, Kuwata was loyal . . . they were all good boys on track to becoming better men.

                “ _Not that anyone would be interested in someone as plain as you, Muku-chan!”_

Junko was probably right about that . . . she was kind of plain and boring. That had been good when she was a soldier - not standing out was one of the things that made a good soldier, and her most distinctive features were her freckles (which weren’t a terribly distinctive feature – lots of people had them). She was relatively flat chested, dressed simply, kept her hair neat and short, and was very much the type to melt into a crowd, almost as if she wasn’t even there. Of course she wouldn’t be asked out on a date. Of course no one wanted to take her any of the dances. She usually spent the dances alone in her dorm room doing homework.

                Which was disappointing, because she had discovered she really liked dancing. Mukuro was used to moving in time with military drummers from her years as a soldier, but there was always something very impersonal and mechanical about those movements. Dancing was similar, but much more freeing and natural. She would practice alone, using videos on the internet or books from the library to teach herself.

                Eventually Maizono caught on and gave her some lessons, and she’d learned a lot from her career as an idol singer over the month or two they’d had their arrangement. Little by little a few of the other girls joined their lessons (and on rare occasion, one or two of the boys –Yamada had been there once and _schooled everyone_ – apparently you COULD learn to dance using those blasted Dance Dance Revolution machines). They mostly focused on popular dances, though they did a few others – Celes had brought roses for the tango, and Togami secured access to a ballroom and a four piece string ensemble for the waltz.

                Eventually, one of the other girls got the idea that they should all do a girls night out – one of the local dance clubs had a dry night so minors could attend. This had been exciting to her at first, but someone had invited Junko . . . and she’d accepted. Mukuro knew she needed to be careful – it was only her little sister’s disinterest in the dance lessons that kept her from finding out about her involvement with the dance lessons, but at some point a song she really liked came on and she let herself go a little.

                And then she let herself go a lot.

                It was hot and she could feel herself sweating from the body heat surrounding her, and the pounding of the music was in her chest and her head, similar to the rush of adrenaline she felt on the battlefield, but pleasant. Her arms and legs flowed like silk in time with the rhythm. She could hear the other girls cheering her on and clapping and whistling for her.

                “ _Look at Mukuro go!_ ”

                “ _Whoo-hoo! Shake it, girl!_ ”

                “ _Hey, maybe we should talk to Kyouko’s dad about making you a Super High School Level Dancer, huh?”_

“ _Isn’t that shrimpy girl in Class 77 the Super High School Level Dancer already?_ ”

                “ _Nah, she does traditional dances – Mukuro’s shaking her groove thing!_ ”  
                Mukuro smiled at the idea and laughed a little. She’d never thought of herself as anything other than a soldier before. Could she be something else, too? Well, yes – a lot of her classmates did a lot of things. Kuwata was learning to balance more intensive music studies with baseball. Ishimaru had gotten rather good at kendo. Asahina had been on something like six different sports teams before coming to Hope’s Peak, but was also learning how to use watercolors in her spare time with Oogami. At some point Maizono took up archery, and Togami was an avid golfer (though she suspected that was because golf seemed was kind of a businessman thing to do). There was no reason she couldn’t be a dancer too, right?

                She’d felt so alive.

                Mukuro caught Junko’s eyes – she was furious with her.

                That was the last time she’d danced. She was too afraid to practice anymore. Maizono kept asking her about it, and Celes tried to organize more nights out at the dance club, but Mukuro declined. She started declining more and more invitations. She could tell everyone was worried about her – Junko seemed pleased.

                But all of that didn’t change how she felt being around their friends and learning more about herself, until Junko reminded her how wrong that was. Her little sister hated their classmates. She was disgusted with their hopes and dreams and ambitions. Togami was anxious to take over his family’s business group thing (Mukuro didn’t quite get it, but understood it had a lot to do with businesses owning other businesses and having their hands in a lot of things – charities, lobbies, public works, hospitals, everything) and was doing research on things like green technology to invest in and better care for his employees. Ishimaru wanted to be Prime Minister and regularly did papers on things like fixing government corruption and exposing elected officials who took bribes – when he’d started at the school he didn’t have the charisma for it, but he was learning from the others. Maizono regularly visited sick children in hospitals with the rest of her band, and sometimes Kuwata went as well – not all of the children liked idol bands, but a lot of the ones who didn’t loved baseball. Fukawa donated a lot of the proceeds from her books to charity – each book went to a different cause and she’d raised millions of yen for everything from feeding the hungry to medical research to protecting the rainforest. Even Oowada’s by comparison simple dream of being a carpenter? He wanted to own his own contracting business and, on the side, do things like build playgrounds for low income communities.

                It made Junko _seethe_.

                The one she hated the most was Makoto Naegi, and even now he was probably making her scream in frustration. Sure, she wanted the School Life of Mutual Killing to drag on as long as possible, meaning she really did need them to figure it out so most of them would live to see another murder, but he was keeping things in the courtroom under control. There wasn’t as much yelling and screaming as she wanted – his deductions kept everyone in awe and focused on the task at hand, much more so than she’d wanted. Kuwata’s begging for his life hadn’t been enough. Ishimaru’s tears for Oowada hadn’t been enough. She wanted them to be at each other’s throats, screeching accusations at each other over botched evidence. That hadn’t happened.

                It must have been driving her mad.

                But even before they’d ended the world, Naegi’s endless optimism and kindness had been something Junko _loathed_. Everyone liked him, and he seemed to like almost everyone in return. When the World's Most Despair Inducing Incident had happened, he was one of the ones trying to keep everyone from panicking while they waited for information about their loved ones. Even after he’d learned what happened to his parents and the fate of his little sister, he’d kept it together for everyone else. Despite being one of the smallest in their class, despite having the most unusual “talent” in a school full of prodigies and geniuses, he was their rock, their strength, their pillar.

                It was when his title changed to Super High School Level Hope that Junko broke.

                Even she had been hesitant about the whole School Life of Mutual Killing game – there were a lot of things she wouldn’t be able to control, she’d need to devise no less than fourteen unique executions, there’d be the cleanup of the bodies after the fact . . . she had most of the groundwork in place, and she knew she was smart enough to do it, she just wasn’t sure she wanted to.

                But that moment, when Headmaster Kirigiri declared that Naegi was their living symbol of hope and something that had been dead in everyone’s eyes suddenly came back to life, it pushed her over the edge and she told Mukuro that same evening it was time to put the ball in motion. And just like always, the soldier was too damn scared to go against her sister’s wishes.

                And what, exactly, did she have to show for it?

                Nothing.

                Mukuro was dead, after all.

                And worst of all . . . alone.

                And for the first time in her life, Mukuro felt like Junko had really hurt her. She’d done everything Junko had ever asked of her. She’d denied herself the things she liked, the things she loved. She’d helped her end the world. She’d helped her destroy their friends. She’d even given up her own identity for her sister.

                No one knew who Mukuro Ikusaba was – she didn’t exist to them. Maybe the dead students remembered, but she still couldn’t face them. They had mourned the death of Junko Enoshima, not knowing that she was the one who was behind it all. It hit her that in many ways she was far worse than dead – she was forgotten.

                Mukuro could almost hear Junko squealing in delight at the idea. “ _Such perfect despair! They don’t even remember you, Mukuro! I’m a little jealous! How awful for you! You’re dead and no one will ever bat an eye or shed a tear for you, now will they?_ ” She could see her sister laughing, smiling, and it was then that she realized, at long last, she had Junko’s approval.

                For the first time she could remember, she cried. Mourning the life she could have had. Mourning the friends who had been so close but so far away. Mourning the lives that had been lost, and the ones who had yet to go. She’d _liked_ being a student at Hope’s Peak Academy. She’d _liked_ spending time with her classmates. She’d _loved_ dancing.

                The rest of Class 78 meant something to her. More than she’d realized before that moment.

                But that was all gone now.

                Mukuro slid to the floor, sobbing into her hand. 

 

_5:55 am_

The clawing at the door to the gym had stopped about two hours earlier. The ghosts had remained quiet, too afraid to move for fear of what might happen if the wolf was simply waiting quietly for them outside. Mondo finally volunteered to check it out – he was the tallest and would be able to get the best view of the beast through the window in the door.

                As he approached the door, he heard a hiss. “Mondo!” Sayaka hissed.

                “What?”

                “Your hair will go through the door,” she said.

                Mondo took a moment to think this over, realized she was right, and pushed it up and out of the way before looking through the glass. He studied the empty hallway for several minutes before poking the upper half of his form through the door to get a better look. He sighed with relief – no sign of the beast to be found. He stepped back and gave the others an all clear sign.

                “What now?” asked Sayaka as they passed through the trophy room en route to the rest of the school. All of them were feeling a bit more cabin fever than usual, so they’d decided a walk might do them all a little good. Provided, of course, the wolf creature really _was_ gone. They’d stick to the dorms – there were lots of closed doors to choose from if they needed to make a quick escape while they tried to figure out what to do if they did run into the creature again.

                “We keep going until we figure it out, I guess,” said Leon. They quietly exchanged a few ideas while they passed through the halls until finally reaching the entrance to the student lodging. And as the ghosts walked into what Monokuma had dubbed Hotel Despair, none of them realized they had just missed Kiyotaka, still believing himself to be “Ishida”, on his way to the physics prep room.

                The next crime was about to begin, and the blood was going to flow like a river.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DING DANG DING DONG! Author’s Announcements!
> 
> PLOT HOLE ALERT! So the wolf monster came through a door in the last chapter but can’t do doors this chapter . . . I’ll go back and fix that eventually, but for now, it’s a plot hole. At the moment I don’t really have a way for this group of ghosts to fend off anything I throw at them (Mukuro is armed but she hasn’t found out about the other creatures in the school . . . yet) so I decided to restrict its movements. As for what the wolf is? The good news is you will get an explanation EVENTUALLY, the bad news is that won’t be for a while. What I will share for now is that the wolf ties into much bigger plans I have for beyond the scope of Haunted.
> 
> So not directly related to the story, but I do have Tumblr(s) for you guys to follow:
> 
> dixxymouri – this is my primary Tumblr. Lately it’s been a lot of DR, but it’s one of those “ reblog things that strike my fancy or I feel need to be shared” kind of blogs. Follow if you wish 
> 
> dixxyfics – My fanfiction blog. I’ll post updates to this fic and other projects I’m working on, with the occasional reblog or other post as I see fit. This is also the blog that is probably more appropriate to leave me things like asks about the story or fanfiction or whatever ~_^
> 
> Unrelated to fanfics at all: Go on youtube and search for “wiggle clarinet stripper pole”. Your night will be ruined or your week made. 
> 
> Song Choice: “La La La” by Naughty Boy, featuring Sam Smith. I didn’t want to use a “current” song, per say, but this fit really well and, well, while it’s not a “fun” song considering the context it’s catchy.
> 
> Dixxy


	7. A Dark Congregation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If dying wasn't bad enough, Kiyotaka discovers his morning can get even WORSE.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DING DANG DING DONG! EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!
> 
> Hey guys, I know these usually wait until the end (and there will be notes on this chapter at the end), but before you guys get too excited I wanted to point out that previous chapters have been edited, some of them with LOTS of additions. The biggest changes of note are in the Prologue, Chapter 01, and Chapter 05. The other chapters had a few touch ups but were relatively minor.

_6:00 am_

“Ishida” stared at his watch impatiently. Wasn’t it time to get the fuck out of that place? Dumbasses – they shouldn’t be fucking LATE of all things, especially if it meant getting away from that ugly-ass teddy bear. He scoffed. Motherfuckers. Lateness wasn’t going to be tolerated, not that it was the kind of thing he usually cared about. But the longer those lazy asshats took to get here, the longer they’d be stuck with Evil Bear McKillington and he’d had enough of that scene.

                Yeah, there were things he had to DO now that he had a body again.

                “Ishida” finally saw one of the other students – Yamada, who’d apparently been hiding in the corner or something. What had he been doing back there, anyways? They had important things to attend to, damn it! “Tch! About fucking time!” he yelled. “Do you have _any_ idea how long I’ve had to wait here for you?” He pointed at his watch angrily, the fire in his eyes flaring. “Three minutes! _EVERYONE_ is a whole _three minutes_ late! Now go get the others so we can get the fuck out of this place!”

                Yamada wasn’t listening to him. He was too busy raising the hammer over his head.

_6:03 am_

 

                It was the first moment of clarity Kiyotaka had had since Mondo’s death – the sight of Yamada swinging for his head. The world froze as the other him, the other him that he’d convinced himself was his brother, began to fall apart. He was aware of everything – his heart beating, the clamminess of his palms, his short, rapid breaths. The fear of death had chased Ishida away, leaving just Kiyotaka Ishimaru behind.

                It had been too easy to forget himself. Firstly, this hadn’t been the first time he’d been kidnapped – the last time had been when he was little and he’d been snatched from a playground and held hostage for three days. He’d had nightmares about the incident for years, and was honestly shocked Monokuma didn’t use _that_ as his “dark secret” during his second motive. Perhaps their tormentor didn’t know about it, or felt he wouldn’t kill anyone to keep it buried.

                When he’d awoken in this situation, he’d barely managed to keep a straight face for the other students as fear and panic set in, especially once he learned _why_ they’d been kidnapped. At least when he was a child he knew he wouldn’t be harmed as long as his parents paid the people holding him prisoner money. Here? That wasn’t an option. His parents probably didn’t know where he was, and even if they did, they had no money to give, not anymore, and even if they still did, he doubted Monokuma would want any.

                The bear wanted blood.

                And he’d gotten it. So far, five people had been killed; two of them murdered, one of them impaled for trying to fight back, and two of them executed for their crimes right before Kiyotaka’s eyes. He was hurting. He was terrified, and exhausted from trying to hide that fear. And when the only real friend he had in this horrible place was taken away from him . . . he couldn’t function. Somehow he’d been able to keep it together up until that trial, but watching the bike spin out of control and watching Monokuma . . . _eat_ . . . his best friend’s liquefied remains had been his breaking point. Watching the bear slobber him down, the butter dripping down his mechanical chin as bits of pancakes fell out of his mouth as he shoved more and more in . . . he hadn’t been able to sleep with those images in his head.

                At some point he’d lost himself – the real him, Kiyotaka Ishimaru, had succumbed to despair and allowed that alternate him, that Ishida character, to take him and use his body for whatever he felt like. And he’d been too broken to fight back. He couldn’t handle being a kidnap victim again. He couldn’t handle watching anyone else die.

                But Yamada had broken the spell – Ishida was gone, but something else was holding him together now and Kiyotaka felt like himself again. He realized that not only was the other boy going to kill him, but ultimately he was going to get himself killed at the end of the next Class Trial. Kiyotaka had two lives to save: his own life as well as Yamada’s life.

                Kiyotaka dodged the first swing. “Yamada-kun, what are you doing!?” he yelled.

                “Killing you, you monster! Before you kill _me!”_

“I’m not going to kill you!” he shouted back, blocking his head with his arms. Yamada had raised the hammer again – Kiyotaka dodged a second time, but the mallet connected with his wrist and for a moment all he could see was white, stumbling to the ground in pain. _Get up, get up, get UP!_ He struggled to get up – he felt a shooting pain in his arm and realized his wrist was broken. _No, no, no,_

_CONCENTRATE! Move, move, MOVE!_ He could hear his heart pounding in his ears and feel the throbbing in his wrist.

                Everything felt so real . . . so alive . . .

                Kiyotaka was slammed into the floor by a foot on his back – Yamada had pinned him. He struggled to move, but the other student put all his weight on that foot. His attacker was no athlete, but he was _heavy,_ and Kiyotaka was helpless to get away. “Yamada-kun, don’t do this! You’ll get yourself killed, too! You saw what happened to Leon and Mondo! _Monokuma will kill you!_ ”

                “NEVER! The hammer of JUSTICE is on my side! You’re worse than Black Diamond Shogun Muku Muku Dynamo from Pretty Samurai Shoujo Rose Blossom, and he’s won the Most Evil Villain of All Time poll three years running! YOU MONSTER! I WILL NEVER LET YOU HURT MY GIRL OR MASTER CELES LUDENBERG EVER AGAIN! ARGHH!!!”

                That was puzzling, but not his most immediate concern. _Ludenberg-san? What in the world does Ludenberg-san have to do with this?_ In one last ditch effort to save them, Kiyotaka lifted his head to turn to his would-be murderer. With tears in his eyes, he screamed what he hoped and prayed wouldn’t be his last words. “YAMADA, STOP!”

                Kiyotaka saw the hammer rapidly approaching his head. His eyes widened.

                The pain in his wrist abruptly stopped, as did the pressure from Yamada’s foot. _Did he . . . did he stop himself?_ Kiyotaka clenched his eyes shut, sat up and looked at the other student. “Yamada-kun . . .” No response. “Yamada-kun, aren’t you going to say something?! We need to work this out before . . .” Kiyotaka looked up at where Yamada was standing over him. He was breathing heavily, looking down at him with an unreadable expression, the hammer lying on the floor . . . covered in blood.

                _Blood. . ._

                Kiyotaka looked down and froze.

 

_6:15 am_

 

                Yamada didn’t stay much longer – he took the note he’d been holding and stuffed it in his pants, left the hammer lying next to his body, and exited the physics prep room. Kiyotaka wasn’t sure what to do with himself – he was afraid to leave, he was afraid to stay. He backed himself into a corner, his eyes locked on the horror before him.

                His own dead body, the blood still pooling around his head.

                Yamada had actually done it. He’d killed him. One of his friends had just . . .

                _. . . one of my friends? But we’ve only . . . wait  . . ._

Kiyotaka paused. That . . . that was right. He’d already been a student at Hope’s Peak Academy for two whole years. The first year had been wonderful – he’d had friends for the first time in his life, though the ones most important to him had been Mondo and Chihiro (which made the circumstances of her murder all the more sickening). Because, really, friends hadn’t been something he’d been terribly good at making during his first several years of schooling.

                At best, Kiyotaka eventually realized, he was someone that his classmates would use for help with homework, which he always obliged with an enthusiastic smile. Math, history, literature, biology, physics, chemistry, it didn’t matter – he knew how to study all of them. He’d worked hard at it, and ensured all of his classmates they could do well, too, if they only applied themselves a little more. Hard work was the key to everything, after all.

                But overtime he noticed that no one wanted to spend time with him if it didn’t have anything to do with school. Everyone else seemed to be building little families with their fellow classmates, but not him. He tried to tell himself that friends would just distract him from his goal – he needed to become the Prime Minister, he _had to_ , and that meant studying hard now. He would erase as much of his grandfather’s mark from their family name as he could by leaving a bigger, brighter one in its place.

                It still made him miserable.

                Getting accepted to Hope’s Peak Academy almost made it worse. He’d been thrilled about it at first, but where the other students used to just ignore him or seek him out for help with homework, now they looked at him with contempt. He heard them talking about him behind his back. Why had _he_ been chosen to attend the most prestigious high school in the country, maybe even the world, when he was just a kissass? Brown noser? Was _that_ his “Super High School Level” talent?

                It was the first time he’d ever really gotten upset by the whole thing, and for the two weeks after classes stopped at his old high school and before he was set to begin at Hope’s Peak, he holed himself up in his room, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. His mother made sure he ate and his father told him that things would be better once he was at the new school, but Kiyotaka wasn’t so sure about that. What if he was just used again? What if these students talked about him behind his back, too?

                Things had actually started out pretty poorly, with most of the students regarding him with looks of annoyance. There were two exceptions – Chihiro always ran from him like she was afraid, and Mondo regularly picked fights with him. Then that one gym class happened, and suddenly the two of them were not only his best friends, but they were his _first_ friends. They made small talk at first, but over time they really started to open up to each other – the incident that killed Mondo’s beloved older brother, more stories about Chihiro dealing with her gender identity, and Kiyotaka had even shared the story of his first kidnapping.

                Up until the World's Most Despair Inducing Incident happened, it had been, bar none, the _worst_ thing that had ever happened to him. He supposed that, up until that day he’d been a normal child. He’d been playing with a ball that happened to bounce and roll to the edge of the playground, and when he’d chased after it he encountered the scruffy looking men who would be his jailers for the next three days. They grabbed him and shoved him into a car – he’d started crying immediately, only to be yelled at to stay quiet while the car sped away, tires squealing on the road. The basement he’d been kept in was dank and moldly to the point where he could taste it, and he’d spent most of his captivity in tears. He didn’t understand what was going on or where his parents were and why they weren’t coming to get him. The only “good” thing was that they really hadn’t hurt him – they kept him fed, though not necessarily well, and made sure he had regular visits to the bathroom and plenty of water to drink. They’d provided a dusty old mattress for him to sleep on, which wasn’t ideal but it was better than the floor.

                On the third day one of the men harshly picked him up and brought him back to the car, where he was roughly shoved out about a block from his grandfather’s house. He’d run there, but no one would let him see his grandfather or his parents until after he’d been taken to a hospital and looked over by a doctor. His mother had been furious when she was finally allowed to see him, holding him tightly while she yelled at all the other adults in the room – how _dare_ they keep her away from her child after everything they’d been through!?

                _Mom . . . Dad . . ._

                That was right. The World's Most Despair Inducing Incident had taken his parents from him. Hope’s Peak Academy’s _real_ headmaster, Jin Kirigiri, had sat him down in his office and told him what had happened. Someone had waited until most of the residents in his apartment building were home and blocked off all the exits. They proceeded to throw moltov cocktails through windows until the building was properly burning. It was one of several fires that day, and there was no one on hand to do anything for the people trapped inside.

                Both of his parents had been home for the incident.

                Earlier that year, when the world still made sense, Mondo had found out that Kiyotaka didn’t have any hobbies, and convinced him to pick one. “ _You gotta do more than just be a hall monitor or student council or whatever. You gotta be well-rounded or something, right Chihiro?_ ” (Chihiro hadn’t been paying attention – she’d had her nose stuck in her 3DS, but she grunted a “ _yeah, sure”_.) “ _I mean, what’s something that you’ve always wanted to try but never found the time to go after?_ ”

                “ _I . . . always thought kendo looked interesting-“_

_“-perfect, we’ll get you signed up for some kendo lessons._ ”

                And . . . well, he enjoyed it quite a bit. Years of keeping himself in good physical condition made picking up on the technique a little easier, which he didn’t quite like, but _mastery_ was still a challenge. Holding a practice sword correctly was one thing, but being able to actually win a match? Ah, that took the kind of hard work and dedication he craved. And even though he’d never been able to beat the best in their school (which wasn’t a surprise considering she got into the school for being a swordsman in the first place) he found himself placing in journeyman level competitions towards the end of their first year at Hope’s Peak.

                When he went home during a school break, he’d been nervous about what his parents would think – it wasn’t like any of the other things he’d done in school before, and he wondered if they’d be disappointed in him. But he’d kept his grades up as always and did everything else he’d been doing before, he’d just managed to find time for friends and kendo as well.

                He’d nearly cried when his parents gave him a beautiful wooden bokken.

                Kiyotaka looked to them for an explanation, not understanding. But they were smiling at him, telling him that they’d never seen him so happy before – he had friends, he’d found something he _enjoyed_ doing, and they hadn’t seen that from him since he was little. They told him that, if they could find the time to get away from work, they wanted to meet his friends and see what his life at school was like . . . and that they’d never been more proud of him.

                It was the last time he’d seen them.

                That was why he’d clung to that bokken so closely after the headmaster told him about the fire. It was the last gift they’d given him (well . . . that and some new socks), his last happy memory of them. The afternoon he found out about what had happened was the only day he’d ever used it – before it had been to keep it safe from getting damaged, but now . . . he wasn’t sure what to do. He felt guilty for not using it. He’d feel worse if it really did get wrecked. It wasn’t until Mondo and Chihiro found him that he’d actually broken down, the larger of the two wordlessly carrying him back to his dorm as he sobbed into his shoulder, sneering at anyone who looked at the three of them strangely.

                It was a wonder any of them got through that second year.

                _. . . this . . . this is a nightmare! Wake up, wake up, wake up!_

                Kiyotaka clenched his eyes shut – why couldn’t he just go back to that first year at the school, before the world ended? Of course, of course, he was going to wake up in his bed any moment – the sun would be out shortly, he’d be able to hear the early morning joggers outside, and he’d go get himself some green tea to calm down before the others joined him for breakfast and then everything would be fine – his parents wouldn’t be dead, his classmates wouldn’t be trying to kill each other (or him), and everything would be _normal_ again. Maizono and Kuwata would be hanging all over each other like they did, Enoshima would be touching up her makeup with a little compact mirror she always carried around, Chihiro would be her sweet self as always, Mondo would sense he was upset and say something stupid to try and make him laugh . . .

                Kiyotaka looked at the body again . . . his body. He was lying motionless on the floor, blood pooling around his head and congealing in his hair. He tried to touch his head, but his hand passed through – he didn’t even get any of the blood on his fingers. He looked at his hand and realized it was transparent – he could see the rest of the room through it, so he must have been a spirit or a ghost of some sort.

                “I’m . . . I’m really dead, aren’t I?”

                It was . . . _real._

                Kiyotaka wasn’t sure why he’d bothered saying it out loud. There was no one else in the room to hear it alive or dead. He was all by himself here, and that thought made him horrified. Dying . . . being murdered . . . was bad enough. But did he have to be alone, too? All alone, never able to talk to his friends again or . . .

                He paused. Then again, maybe he wasn’t alone. He hadn’t been the first to die – Maizono and Kuwata and Enoshima, and of course Chihiro and Mondo. They’d all died before him. For a moment, he had hope. Even if he was dead, even if Chihiro and Mondo were going to be upset to see he’d been killed, too, he might not have to be alone. Clinging to that thought, that one hope that he might not have to spent an eternity by himself, he got to his feet and headed for the physics lab.

                He didn’t want to be alone.

                Kiyotaka looked at his watch, only to discover it was broken. _Probably from Yamada,_ he thought miserably. He took the watch off, wondering if he could fix it – he frowned, decided it didn’t matter, and stuffed it into his pocket for the moment. Why bother wearing a broken watch? It wasn’t a particularly meaningful watch anyways – something he’d picked up cheaply after his old one broke.

                He took one last look at his body. It wasn’t going to stop being unsettling.

                Hugging himself and getting the distinct feeling that his new form was just as cold as his body was, he headed towards the door. He reached for the doorknob, but it wouldn’t budge. “No, no, no!” Kiyotaka slammed his fist at the door, only to go tumbling forward _through_ the door and landing in a heap outside of the lab. Startled, it took him a moment to figure out what had happened.

                Well, of course it made sense that he couldn’t use the doorknob – he was a ghost or something. But didn’t ghosts usually have the ability to use items in the real world to mess with the people they were haunting? Kiyotaka frowned – he didn’t really want to scare the other students . . . except for maybe Yamada. He’d probably freak out getting a detention slip from beyond the grave. But even then he just didn’t feel that vengeful against Yamada. Especially since Yamada was convinced he was going to kill him and that he’d done something to Celes . . .

                Which . . . what exactly had he done to Celes? He didn’t interact with her all that much outside of knocking on her door to get her up for their morning meetings every so often, and when he was taken over by that “Ishida” personality he mostly kept to himself and told everyone else to go away – it wasn’t exactly _nice_ but hardly the kind of thing Yamada should have felt he needed to attack him over. So had Yamada just gone crazy from being trapped in the school for so long with Monokuma and the killing game and going through not one but _two_ murders in less than a week (and now a third just outside of two)?

                Something still wasn’t adding up. He looked at the door, which the bottom half of his body was still on the other side of. He scrambled back to his feet, wondering if he was going to need to do an investigation of his own, or if he’d be stuck waiting to see if Naegi and Kirigiri came up with something. He sighed (or at least something that sort of felt like sighing – as a ghost he wasn’t exactly “breathing”, per se) – they would be investigating his death soon enough.

                The physics lab was deserted, which didn’t surprise him. There hadn’t been any actual classes in the school for . . . maybe about a year, now, so there weren’t any active experiments or teachers preparing for classes or anything of the sort. Everything felt stagnant in there, and he couldn’t hear anything but the quiet hum of the air purifier.

                Kiyotaka swallowed – Monokuma had used it to tease him over Mondo’s death. He’d been so broken up about the whole thing that he’d easily bought the lie that it was a time machine and he could use it to go back in time and stop Mondo from killing Chihiro. He frowned – even if something had happened to his memories, part of him had known just how much those two meant to him. In that moment maybe he was more concerned about Mondo, but part of his must have wanted Chihiro back, too.

                Maybe that was why that Ishida presence was able to take him over so easily. His usual composure was non-existent in the wake of the second trial, leaving him the most vulnerable he’d been in years. Of course something like that could have happened – he was fragile, he hadn’t been eating or sleeping properly, and he just felt . . . lost. Ishida was able to solve some of those problems – he’d been able to get some sleep the night before, or perhaps more accurately reached a point of such extreme exhaustion that he had no other choice but to pass out, and he’d eaten something for dinner, too. Hagekure had tried to join him, happy that he was at least eating, but that Ishida character had yelled at him to “fuck off”.

                _That’s so strange . . . Mondo wouldn’t do something like that . . ._

Come to think of it, a lot of that Ishida character’s behavior was _nothing_ like what Mondo would do, and yet that was the pretense of what happened, right? Had it been a result of him being confused or his missing memories constructing a false idea of him? No, no that didn’t seem right. He looked at his hands again and was soberly reminded that it probably didn’t matter anymore. Ishida, whatever he was, was gone – he was dead and at the moment he was completely alone.

                Kiyotaka headed towards the door to the hallway. There wasn’t much else for him to do at this point here, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to be around his body anymore. Besides, if the others _were_ haunting the school, he needed to find them. He just had to hope he could pass through this door as well. Maybe he could even go outside, although he wondered what was out there for him. Maybe his parents’ ghosts if he could manage to find them?

                The good news was that Kiyotaka was able to successfully pass through the physics lab door.

                The bad news was that he walked into someone else, who wrestled him to the ground.

                Kiyotaka clenched his eyes shut – his wrists were pinned and his assailant was straddling him. He opened one eye to see who it was, and was stunned at who he saw. He’d know that freckled face and short black hair anywhere . . . only he’d forgotten she had existed along with the rest of his memories of the last two years. “I, Ikusaba-san?!”

                No one had realized it but, but one of their classmates had been missing this entire time. Enoshima-san had an older twin sister – the Super High School Level Soldier, Mukuro Ikusaba. She hadn’t been around at all – everyone else from his class was there but her . . . and he’d forgotten she’d ever existed.

                But, _how_ could he have forgotten _her_?

                Something about her had always made him feel a little light headed and it was hard to pay attention in class if she was anywhere in his line of sight. He fumbled his words more often when he had to talk to her, and even though she followed school rules almost as well as he did he dreaded the very idea of giving her a detention slip. Mondo had been the one to point out he had a crush on her, which had flabbergasted him. He was supposed to focus on schoolwork, not girls!

                Kiyotaka realized that wasn’t exactly his choice one day. He’d been looking for a particular book in the library and hadn’t been paying attention when he and Ikusaba went for it at the same time. Their hands touched, and the sensation of her skin against his made him feel dizzy, and even though he’d needed the book for a report he was working on, he’d let her take it. She’d thanked him, smiled politely, and walked away, and he found himself watching her walk away, too dumbfounded to do anything.

                Mondo had been right – he was in _love_.

                Of course, he wasn’t stupid – he’d paid attention in health class, he understood sexual desire, he just did his best to not act on it right now. Yet, for some reason his base instincts had decided Ikusaba was his ideal mate and they fought against all of the logic and reason in his brain about why this was a bad idea, but nothing worked. He’d never been sexually frustrated before and he didn’t like it. He was supposed to be a moral compass for the rest of the student body – he was the _president of the morals committee_. He wasn’t supposed to be pining after a girl! He wasn’t supposed to have dreams about long walks in the park or Ikusaba wearing a wedding dress or . . . _indecent behavior._

Mondo had teased him about it, but ultimately gave him what was he assumed was sound advice. If he managed to secure a girlfriend – Ikusaba or anyone else really – then they just needed to go at a pace they were both comfortable with, and if that comfortable pace included . . . _indecent behavior_ . . . they just needed to be smart about it and use protection. Kiyotaka reminded him he was the president of the morals committee, and Mondo reminded him in turn that one of his best friends was renowned for being the leader of a gang of rowdy bikers.

                “ _Falling in love doesn’t affect your morals, dumbass – doing good deeds does.”_

                Not that Kiyotaka was planning on seducing Ikusaba into engaging in _indecent behavior_ right away, of course, but there was a school dance coming up, so maybe if he could just find the courage to do so he could ask her if maybe she might possibly consider going to the dance with him if she wanted (“ _Kyoudai . . . don’t use that line when you ask her out . . ._ ”). But after several days of trying . . . and failing . . . to keep his nerve, he got a brilliant idea.

                Her twin sister went to this school as well – perhaps she would have some good advice for him?

                Enoshima had stared at him almost angrily at first before laughing at him, saying that her sister wasn’t interested in dating someone like him and in fact wasn’t really interested in dating anyone at all, so he should just quit while he was ahead and go give someone a detention slip or something. He’d thanked her for her honesty and sulked off, disappointed that it looked like things wouldn’t work out. At least he had his friends and a world of other things to keep him occupied in the meantime.

                At least he did, until the World's Most Despair Inducing Incident happened.

                Ikusaba looked at him with wide, panic-stricken eyes. Kiyotaka realized they were in a somewhat, well, “compromising” position. “I, um, would you let me up, please?” he asked. Ikusaba continued to stare at him in horror and surprise. “Please?” he asked again. Normally he was so good at being assertive with the other students (he had to be as hall monitor) but sometimes he had trouble keeping it together around her, and considering he had died less than an hour ago, he was _not_ in a position to keep it together around her.

                “You . . . remember my name?” she asked quietly.

                “I . . . of course I do!” he said. He closed his eyes. “Though . . . I forgot for a while.”

                Ikusaba lowered her eyes. “You must hate me then.”

                “Why would I hate you?” Was it because she died and couldn’t do anything to prevent the current situation? But, then again, _when_ did she die? She hadn’t been with everyone else on that phony first day, so maybe she’d been killed elsewhere? She’d probably been the subject of Enoshima’s “motivational” DVD or something . . .

                Actually, that was strange. Why hadn’t Enoshima been concerned about her twin sister? Shouldn’t she had known that she was also a student at Hope’s Peak, so why wasn’t she asking around for her? The more Kiyotaka thought about it the more questions he had. Why would he hate Ikusaba-san? Why hadn’t her sister said anything about her missing twin? Why was Ikusaba-san dead?

                Ikusaba san clenched her eyes shut and looked away, and that’s when he noticed it.

                The outfit Ikusaba was wearing was not at all like her usual attire, school uniform or otherwise. But it was very much the kind of clothing that her sister favored, and in fact, looked exactly like the one Enoshima had been wearing when she’d been killed in the gymnasium. And then he remembered someone mentioning that Enoshima hadn’t looked like her pictures from the magazines. And now that Ikusaba was here, dead, in those clothes . . .

                “You’re . . . you’re the one who died in the gym that day,” he said slowly.

                Ikusaba still wasn’t looking at him. “Yeah. That was me.”

                “But . . . why?” he asked. Why was Ikusaba dressed like and pretending to be her sister in the game? She turned to look at him in confusion, like she didn’t understand what he was asking. Of course, considering everyone’s memories had been tampered with, one idea popped into his head. “Why would you pretend to be Enoshima? Is, is that what happened to your memories? Were you convinced you were your sister?”

                “You remember who I am . . . but you don’t remember what happened, do you?”

                Kiyotaka swallowed. He was positive he’d recovered about two years of memories, but he was just as positive there was still a fuzzy period he couldn’t quite make out in detail. “I remember when we really became students here and the following year. Then I remember the World's Most Despair Inducing Incident happening, and everyone living inside of the school for about another year. But . . . I still feel like I’m missing memories.” He shifted under her. “Also, Ikusaba-san . . . please get off me.”

                Ikusaba looked at him briefly before rolling off of him. He was able to confirm that she was, indeed, wearing something more like what he’d expect of her sister. Short skirt, knee-high boots with heels, classic Enoshima. But whereas Enoshima always looked cocky and confident whenever he’d handed her detention slips for violating the dress code, Ikusaba just looked uncomfortable, like she’d been forced to wear some sort of awkward animal costume like the ones in amusement parks. He supposed that the long flowing locks of pink hair had been a wig of some sort, and she’d probably used makeup to cover the tattoo on the back of her hand.

                None of this answered the question of _why_ she was doing this, though. Was she apologizing for deceiving everyone and making them think she was her sister? That couldn’t have been the only part of it. Then he remembered they were both dead, and he wondered . . . Ikusaba couldn’t have had anything to do with what was going on in the school, could she? No, no, she couldn’t . . . she couldn’t possibly know . . . someone must have forced her to dress as her sister for . . . for . . .

                “Ishimaru-san . . . I can’t . . . I can’t face the others. Please just, just go without me. The others who have died are all here, too – you can see Oowada-san and Fujisaki-san again. Just . . . please don’t tell them you saw me. Please. I know that isn’t in your nature . . . I know it isn’t . . . but just this once . . . please don’t let the others know. Please. They think Junko-chan just . . . didn’t show up after she died and I need it to stay that way for now. I can’t . . . I can’t do it . . .”

                Kiyotaka studied her and swallowed. “Ikusaba-san . . . you know something, don’t you?”

                “I . . . I’m so . . . I can’t! I can’t!” Ikusaba turned on her heels and bolted. Kiyotaka was stunned into silence for several moments. There was no question now that Ikusaba knew something about what was going on, but didn’t want to talk about it. He took a few seconds to collect his thoughts and ran after her.

                “Ikusaba-san, wait! Please! Tell me what’s going on!” But by the time he’d rounded the corner leading to the art room, she had disappeared, and he was once again alone. Kiyotaka groaned – years of chasing after delinquents had made him one of the fastest students in their class but Ikusaba was a soldier with a lengthy resume of various mercenary work – if she didn’t want to be found, she wasn’t going to be found.

                Realizing he wasn’t going to find her anytime soon but recalling that she’d told him that the other dead students were also haunting the school, he decided to try and find them instead. That made him feel a little better, although he wondered how everyone was getting along considering what had happened. Ikusaba hadn’t said anything about them getting along or not. Regardless of the extenuating circumstances, terrible things had happened to all of them – as it was he was going to need to figure out how he felt about Yamada sooner rather than later, possibly Celes as well, since it appeared she had something to do with his death as well.

                Kiyotaka was beside himself as he dragged his form towards the stairs. This was really all he could do now – go find the others and figure out what to do from there. Did they try to pass on to the afterlife? Continue to haunt the school? He really had no idea. What _was_ someone supposed to _do_ in his situation?

                The second floor hallway was empty. He looked around. “Chihiro? Kyoudai?” he called tentatively. No answer. Even though Mukuro was acting strangely, he had no reason to believe she was lying to him, so they must have been on the first floor or something. “Kuwata? Maizono?” He shook his head – Maizono and Kuwata would have probably responded to his calls for Mondo and Chihiro.

                _Okay, rooms next._ He tried everything on the second floor, save the girl’s changing room (in the event one of the remaining girls was in there and indisposed – dead or not, it wouldn’t be proper for him to see them in a state of undress). Nothing, although for some reason someone had stored a large, person-sized robot in the pool supply closet. That was weird, but he had other things to worry about.

                Upon reaching the stairwell leading to the first floor, Kiyotaka encountered . . . _something_.

                Whatever it was, it was humanoid in shape . . . but only the basic shape of a human. Otherwise it was largely formless, with mitten-like hands and feet that resembled half melons. It had almost no face to speak of, save for a pair of mismatched eyes and a vacant smile against a red mouth. That alone was unsettling, but it wasn’t the most unsettling part alone.

                It was colored just like Monokuma.

                Worse, it spotted him, and began to lumber towards him.

                Kiyotaka was too scared to scream but not too stunned to bolt in the other direction. It gave chase as he scrambled back towards the third floor. Despite being dead, he still had good traction to work with and was able to keep a healthy pace ahead of that . . . _thing_ , whatever it was. But it also occurred to him that running wasn’t going to be enough; he was going to have to lose it.

                _Okay, think, think, where can you go to lose this thing?_ He was too panicked to think straight.

                He reached the stairwell leading back to the third floor, but was greeted by a second creature just like the first one. Kiyotaka skidded to a stop and looked over his shoulder – the other one was still coming. He looked around him, trying to find an escape route, but there was none.

                The creatures lunged at him, one aiming low and the other aiming high. He wanted to scream, but a rough, slimey hand slapped over his mouth while the creatures hoisted him off the ground – one had his ankles, while the other kept one arm around her torso and the other over his mouth. It was revolting – he was positive it SHOULD have smelled, but it felt like someone had mixed pond scum with a bucket of sand and then coated their hand with the mixture.

                Kiyotaka struggled to break free, but they were unmoved by his attempts – he wasn’t going to get out. He whimpered in the slimy hand, trying to pull it off his mouth so he could scream for help. Mukuro had been around recently, hadn’t she? And maybe Mondo and the others were nearby. But then he wondered if it mattered, considering they were all dead anyways.

                He felt himself start to cry again. He’d forgotten he was dead.

                Then Kiyotaka got an idea – he couldn’t get away, but maybe there was something he _could_ do.

 

_8:10 am_

                The wolf creature was nowhere to be found – at least as far as Chihiro could tell.

                That didn’t mean they weren’t all on edge anyways. Being dead was bad enough. Being hunted? Worse. Way, way worse. They’d been on edge since leaving the gymnasium – would it show up again? What if it actually caught one of them? Could they be hurt anymore than they already were? And what _was_ that thing anyways?

                They’d been torn on what to do – did they look for it so they knew where it was, or did they hide someplace it would be unlikely to find them? For the moment they’d chosen the latter and hid themselves in the bathhouse. If nothing else it gave them a chance to check on Alter Ego – she was still hidden away in that locker.

                “I don’t know if Kirigiri was behind this,” said Mondo, scratching his head after seeing for himself where the laptop was hidden. “Sure she’s been kind of secretive and all, but this doesn’t seem like her style, you know? Sure if she’s on an investigation she can be secretive and dodgy with what she knows but I don’t think we saw her poker face last night – I think she legitimately doesn’t know where Alter Ego is.”

                Chihiro’s eyes widened as a light bulb went off over her head. “What did you say?”

                “I don’t think she knows where the laptop is?”

                “No, no, before that!”

                “. . . Kyouko’s secretive if she’s up to something?”

                Chihrio sighed. “ _After_ that.”

                “. . . that wasn’t her poker face?”

                Leon sighed. “Chihiro this is no time to be quoting Lady Gaga.”

                “No! That’s it!” said Chihiro. “Poker face! That’s it!”

                “Eh?” asked Mondo.

                Chihiro sighed in exasperation.

                “Wait, I think I get what she’s saying – _everyone_ looked like they didn’t know where Alter Ego was hidden, and if Monokuma found her he’d have destroyed her or taken her someplace else,” said Sayaka, tapping the side of her face. “No one looked guilty. No one looked like they were hiding anything. No fidgeting, no sweating, no nothing.”

                “And?” asked Leon. “What’s your point?”

                “With _one_ exception, whoever took Alter Ego _should_ have been exhibiting some level of guilt or something, but no one did, which means only _one_ person could have done it,” said Chihiro. She put a hand on her hip. “The Super High School Level Gambler herself – Taeko Yasuhiro, also known as Celes Ludenberg.”

                “Yeah, but Celes already has a ton of winnings from her gambling,” said Leon. “She doesn’t need that pot . . .” His eyes widened as realization dawned on him and slowly began to dawn on Mondo as well. “That’s it. That’s the key. The money. It’s a pot. It’s the winnings the next killer gets if they get away with murder.”

                Mondo’s jaw dropped. “Monokuma likes to refer to this as a ‘game’. It’s all a giant gamble. Stake your life for the chance to win big. And he just gave everyone a motive that would be impossible for a gambler of her caliber to resist – a giant pot and freedom, winner take all. All she’d need to do is take a life and get away with it.” His eyes widened. “It’s been a gamble the whole time – how Celes has held out this long is astonishing. The bear put up this motive to push her over the edge.”

                “But that doesn’t explain why she’d-“

                The ghost paused – someone was screaming.

                “. . . what the hell was that?” asked Mondo.

                “. . . oh no,” Sayaka said, horrified.

                None of them wanted to say it out load, but they all knew the most likely explanation.

                Another murder.

                “What . . . what now?” asked Mondo.

                Sayaka composed herself and headed for the door. “Easy – we find the body.”

                “Uh, Sayaka, I don’t think we can trigger the corpse discovery announcement,” said Mondo.

                “No, she means we should be there for whoever died . . . if that’s even what happened,” said Chihiro. She forced a smile. “Maybe it was just an accident in the kitchen . . . or, or maybe someone just startled someone really badly. I’ve screamed when people accidentally snuck up on me before.” Mondo frowned, putting his hands on her shoulders.

                “Chihiro, you _know_ what that scream probably was.”

                “We know what it _probably_ was, not what it _definitely_ was!” said Chihiro. She had tears in her eyes. “It . . . it might be nothing! It doesn’t . . . it doesn’t have to be someone else dying on us! I don’t want anyone else to be dead! I want to see everyone live! They’re gonna grow up and get married and have jobs and kids and dogs and it’s not . . . it’s not . . .”

                _Ding dang ding dong!_

                “ _Looks like we’ve got a corpse here! After a brief investigation, the Class Trial will begin!_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DING DANG DING DONG! Author’s Announcements!
> 
> The timestamp thing is probably going to end next chapter. 
> 
> So . . . Junko’s hair (and Mukuro’s wig), just because I think it’s going to get brought up , has always looked pink to me? Like I kind of get where people get blonde from (I’ve seen it called as such in official sources) but . . . guys, guys, that’s totally pink hair. And I’m now curious to see if anyone is going to fight me on this in the comments not because I’m looking for one, but WAAAAYYYY back in the day I was TOTALLY having an argument with someone over the color of Glenn from Chrono Cross’ hair in the reviews for their fic and it went on for EVER.
> 
> Okay, so there MIGHT be a short hiatus after this chapter. Reason? I’ve got a LOT of stuff going on right now and I don’t know how much writing I’ll be getting done. Good news is that Chapter 07 is started – I’ve got maybe, like, a third of it done? So you might see that one before the end of July but I wouldn’t put money on it. 
> 
> Song Choice: “A Dark Congregation” by the Hush Sound. I’m trying to avoid using the same artist in the same story, but this was a tough one and the was the first song in iTunes that really felt like it fit at all. It’s like, there are some songs I have plans for later on or that I want to otherwise save, but yeah I struggled with this one. 
> 
> Dixxy


	8. Momentum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the first time, the ghosts don't know what's going on with a murder - they have two dead bodies on hand and no ghost for either of them. Meanwhile, Hifumi begins to regain his memories before dying, which has a benefit of its own.

Haunted

By Dixxy Mouri

Chapter Seven: Momentum

 

_8:15 am_

Chihiro was almost positive she could feel a lump in her stomach, even if she knew it wasn’t possible. Things had been bad enough already, but the last day had been the worst of it for everyone alive _and_ dead. The living students had lost Alter Ego. The dead students had been trapped in the gym all night to keep away from the wolf monster. And now, to top it all off, there had been another corpse discovery announcement.

                This time it was Yamada – he’d been found in the infirmary by Naegi, Celes, and Aoi. He’d been lying spread eagle on the floor, his head covered in blood. The murder weapon, a hammer labeled “Justice Hammer #3”, wasn’t too far from the body. According to what the living students were saying, both Yamada and Celes had been assaulted earlier in the day with Justice Hammers #1 and #2, but those injuries had been, apparently, non-fatal.

                It was a strange turn of events to be sure, but for the moment the ghosts had a bigger problem on their hands. Yamada’s ghost was nowhere to be found. They wondered if Yamada had met the same fate as Junko, but Leon had suggested that he’d run somewhere in a panic and perhaps all they needed to do was find him. It was especially important to do so considering no one could confirm what happened to the wolf monster.

                Leon and Sayaka had the first floor, and she and Mondo had the second floor. Mondo thought this was unfair at first, until Chihiro pointed out that the first floor had twice the floor space _and_ there were more rooms as well. He conceded the point, and here they were, finishing their search of the second floor before moving onto the third.

                “YAMADA!” Mondo called out again. “YAMADA!”

                Chihiro wondered if Mondo calling out for him was the best idea. Sure, she wasn’t terribly loud herself, but Yamada might not be willing to answer the calls of a murderer, even with the knowledge that it had all be a cruel trap they’d somehow fallen into. Then again, that might attract the wolf monsters.

                “Mondo, are you sure we should be yelling?” she asked quietly.

                Mondo looked down at her and sighed after confirming the rec room was empty. “I get it – I’m afraid of the big bad wolf, too, but we can’t just leave him running around scared and unaware of what’s been going on.” They moved on from the rec room and headed towards the art room. “I mean . . . the sooner we find him the sooner he knows.”

                Chihiro lowered her eyes. “Another thing . . . who could have killed him?”

                “I don’t know for sure . . . I think your Celes theory is still a good idea, but, as much as I _don’t_ want to think about it, Yamada _was_ fighting with Kyoudai over Alter Ego pretty intensely the past couple of days, right?” He clenched his eyes shut as they walked into the art room – completely deserted, save for the two ghosts. “Normally, I’d say he wouldn’t. But he is not himself right now – I don’t know _what_ he’s capable of at the moment and that scares me.”

                At first Chihiro wanted to argue with him over it, but she took his point. Everyone was scared and stressed out and on edge, and Kiyotaka had completely lost it in the wake of the second trial. Mondo was right – the Super High School Level Moral Compass was _not_ the Kiyotaka Ishimaru they knew and loved. He was something else entirely, and this person? They didn’t know anything about this “Ishida” character.

                They approached the physics lab. “Okay, Yamada’s gotta be in here – no place left to check,” said Mondo. Chihiro nodded as they walked in and heard a scream coming from the prep and storage room. They exchanged a look before hurrying to the storage room. It sounded like Naegi – what was he doing all the way on the third floor when Yamada’s body was on the first floor?

                They didn’t like what they saw.

                Both of them let out of a scream.

 

_8:27 am_

                Two victims.

                Sayaka and Leon had come running when they heard Chihiro and Mondo scream, eventually finding the second crime scene of the morning. Kiyotaka had died the same way that Yamada had; he’d been struck with one of those “Justice Hammers”. Even worse, now they had two wandering spirits to track down, and to top it all off, _no one_ knew what was going on except for the murderer.

                This was a new low point.

                Both of them reacted in ways that didn’t exactly surprise Sayaka. Chihiro was quietly weeping in the corner, but Mondo was angrily pacing around the room, looking at the corpse and looking around, trying to figure out what was going on. “What the hell happened this time!?” Leon asked in disbelief, unable to take his eyes off Kiyotaka’s body.

                “He was already dead when we got here!” Mondo snapped.

                “Hey, watch your temper!” Leon shot back, advancing on the biker.

                Sensing a fight, Sayaka got between them. “ _Knock it off, both of you!_ ” She kept them both at arm’s distance. “Look. Obviously this situation is _bad_. Let’s calm down, track down Yamada and Kiyotaka’s ghosts, and find out what happened.” Mondo was about to protest but Sayaka glared at him. “ _I said calm down!_ ”

                By now the only living person in the room was Touko – Naegi was bringing Byakuya and Sakura back to the infirmary to see what had happened to Yamada. Sayaka did a mental headcount. Naegi, Aoi, and Celes had discovered Yamada’s corpse – that was four. Touko, Byakuya, and Sakura had found Kiyotaka – eight. Kirigiri and Hagakure were not accounted for. Could one of them be-

Horror lit up on Sayaka’s face.

                “Sayaka?” Leon asked.

                “Has anyone seen Hagakure or Kirigiri this morning?” asked Sayaka.

                “Kirigiri is doing some other investigation – I don’t know why she thinks this is a good time, but yeah, that’s what she’s up to. We haven’t seen Hagakure at all,” said Mondo. “Why? You think one of them did this?”

                “I’m not sure, but the motive this time was money, and isn’t Hagakure in deep with the mob?”

                “You seriously think Hagakure killed two people?” Mondo asked.

                “. . . Yamada-kun?”

                The three arguing spirits briefly turned to Chihiro, whose eyes were on the door. They turned their attention back to the door and saw a blood-drenched Yamada coming through. “There you are! We’ve been looking all over for you!” Leon asked, sidestepping in front of him. “Where the hell have you been this-?”

                Yamada walked right through Leon.

                Mondo’s eyes widened. “Wait – he’s still alive?”

                Sayaka looked him over, then looked down at her stomach. “Yeah. When we come over as ghosts we don’t come over with the wounds that killed us, and our clothing isn’t blood stained. Yamada’s not dead, but what’s he doing here?” They watched quietly as he unfolded one of the tarps in the storage room and laid it out on the floor before dragging Kiyotaka on top of it.

                Chihiro stood. “No way,” she said, approaching him. She let out a shrill scream and started pounding her fists at Yamada’s form while he wrapped up Kiyotaka’s corpse and plopped it onto a cart. “ _How could you!? How could you do this!? Why!? Why!?_ ” Mondo held her back, but looked pretty angry himself.

                “So . . . Yamada faked his own death so no one would suspect he killed Kiyotaka,” said Leon.

                “Shit,” said Mondo.

                “That . . . explains a lot. It explains why we couldn’t find his ghost, and tells us a little about what happened to Kiyotaka’s ghost – he must have died a while ago, before Yamada faked his death, so he must have wandered off somewhere after he died,” said Sayaka. She looked at Mondo. “But that doesn’t explain why he didn’t respond to the sounds of our voices. Even if he died while he was . . . not himself, he should have reacted to Mondo’s voice at the very least.”

                “Unless . . . you don’t think the wolf monster got him, do you?” Chihiro asked.

                “. . . _fuck!_ ” Leon’s eyes widened.

                Sayaka wondered why, but then images of Kiyotaka’s ghost wandering around the school and being attacked by the wolf entered her mind’s eye and wouldn’t leave. Her hands started to shake as more and more pieces fell into place. “Then . . . you don’t think . . . guys, I think I know what happened to Junko’s ghost . . .”

                The thought was horribly unsettling. The wolf monster was far more menacing than it had been before, because now it seemed like even though they were dead and logically no one should be able to hurt them anymore, it seemed like there _was_ a way for them to be hurt again, and it looked like that fate had befallen both Junko and Kiyotaka.

                Who was next?

                “Yamada’s on the move – should we follow him?” Chihiro asked.

                “. . . yeah, sure.”

 

_8:45 am_

                The door rattled, and Hifumi covered his mouth to keep from being heard. Being found out now would be no good. Not if he, Celes Ludenberg, and Alter Ego intended to escape from this terrible place. He heard someone outside comment the door was locked and how that was really strange, but it was quickly followed by the sound of retreating footsteps.

                Hifumi allowed himself a sigh of relief – as quiet as he could manage, of course. At least the plan was almost over – she’d kill someone else soon enough, and that would cause enough confusion for Makoto Naegi and the others to get it wrong and the two of them would be able to leave.

                _I wonder who Master Celes Ludenberg is planning to kill?_ Hifumi looked over at his own victim – Kiyotaka Ishimaru’s corpse was lying lifeless on the tarp. His body had gone cold, though it was still limp – rigor mortis hadn’t set in yet. Hifumi snorted. Served him right after what he did to Celes Ludenberg and his girl Alter Ego. Served him right for what he was going to do to him.

                Hifumi looked at his hands – there was blood on them now. Well, yes, he was covered in blood from his performance in the infirmary, but what he was thinking of was the metaphorical kind . . . although Ishimaru did bleed out a lot so he’d probably gotten some on him at some point after the crime . . . he shook his head. He wasn’t sure this was something he wanted to think about anymore.

                But something . . . something was . . .

                _“Yamada, what are you doing!?”_

_“Killing you, you monster! Before you kill me!”_

_“I’m not going to kill you! Yamada, don’t do this! You’ll get yourself killed, too! You saw what happened to Leon and Mondo! Monokuma will kill you!”_

_“After what you did to my girl and Celes? NEVER!”_

                _“YAMADA, STOP!”_

                Hifumi looked at his corpse. Eveything had happened so fast he hadn’t realized it at the time, but Ishimaru looked like his old self again. No white hair, no fire in his eyes, no yelling and screaming obscenities . . . just the aggressive, somewhat socially awkward prefect he’d met just a couple of weeks ago. Not the crazed maniac who believed he was possessed by the ghost of Mondo Oowada.

                And that was when an image froze in his mind – Kiyotaka Ishimaru, _just_ Kiyotaka Ishimaru, begging for his life.

                Hifumi swallowed. Kiyotaka Ishimaru had snapped out of it. And that Kiyotaka Ishimaru wouldn’t have . . .

                He hung his head. Not that it mattered now. It was only a matter of time before someone finally won Monokuma’s game, and Celes Ludenberg had found a way to save two people instead of just one. In some ways, she was kind of a hero. Two people leaving the school was better than just one person leaving the school after all. The two of them would retrieve Alter Ego from Kiyotaka Ishimaru’s room and leave the school after the Class Trial. They wouldn’t ever have to speak of what happened again. He’d return home and eventually things would go back to normal.

                _Right?_

                There was a knock on the door. “Yamada?”

                “Master Celes Ludenberg!” he said. He got to his feet and opened the door to let her into the supply closet. Celes smiled sweetly at him, then looked down to study the corpse for a moment. “Is everything still going according to plan outside?” She looked back up at him and smiled, nodding. “Well, have you decided who you’re going to kill?”

                “I have,” said Celes. “Yamada, be a dear and check over the body for any evidence.”

                “O, of course!”  Hifumi gave Kiyotaka Ishimaru another search. He’d already gotten the note from him (it was safely hidden away in his underwear – no one would search him there, that’s for sure!) although a tiny piece of it was still stuck in his hand, but aside from that, well, he couldn’t really find anything. “Master Celes Ludenberg, I don’t think there’s anything else – we should be fine to get through the class trial without a problem.”

                “Keep looking – Naegi and Kirigiri are quite good at this game,” she said.

                Hifumi got to his feet. Maybe there was something on one of the shelves he could use, like a magnifying glass or something. He rummaged through the shelf, but had no such luck. Oh well. They’d probably created enough confusion with their plan anyways, and once Celes Ludenberg committed the second murder, they’d be golden.

                Hifumi heard Celes Ludenberg shuffling with something. He turned and saw her take one of the hammers they hadn’t painted from the wall. “I need to tell you something, Yamada,” she said slowly. He turned to look at her and adjusted his glasses. Of course he’d listen to her. Despite the terrible things that had happened, she had the strength to figure this out.

                “Yes, Master Celes Ludenberg?”

                Celes Ludenberg looked over the hammer, twirling it in her hand a few times before she looked down at Kiyotaka Ishimaru’s corpse again with a smirk. “This has all been too easy,” she said. “Everything’s going according to plan, and soon I’ll be out of this hellhole and on my way to bigger, better things. And for that, I need to thank you.”

                “Of course!” he said. “We’re going to be all right!”

                “That’s not what I was going to tell you,” she said. She laughed before poking the body with the hammer. Hifumi wondered if she was going to decimate the corpse for what he’d done to her in life. He couldn’t blame her, even if in the end it had been “Ishida,” not Kiyotaka Ishimaru, who’d done it. She frowned, and for a moment Hifumi felt his heart skip a beat.

                That look in her eyes . . . she wasn’t looking at someone who had assaulted her. She should have been frightened or she should have hated him . . . but there was . . . something else. Hell, even the absence of emotion would have been better – Hifumi could understand that, but something about that look made his blood run cold.

                She looked almost . . . indifferent.

                “Yamada, dear?”

                “Master Celes Ludenberg . . . why are you looking at him like that?”

                Celes Ludenberg shook her head. “It’s nothing. Are you sure you’ve searched him?”

                Hifumi continued to stare at her. “Something’s not right here.”

                “ _Of course not you fucking moron! I need to get out of here! I want out!_ ”

                _She keeps saying . . . “I” . . . not “we” . . . does she mean to . . .?_

                It began to fall into place.

                “Master Kiyotaka Ishimaru . . . never touched you, did he?”

                Celes Ludenberg paused, staring at him for several moments before moving faster than Hifumi could process. Her foot connected with his chest, knocking the wind out of him. He was on his back, helpless as he desperately tried to catch his breath. But Celes Ludenberg hovered over him, her foot on his chest as she stabilized herself to deal him the finishing blow . . .

               

                Everything was . . . so cold.

                He opened his eyes. It was dark, but he could barely make out Aoi Asahina’s face.

                _Aoi Asahina . . . Aoi Asahina is my friend . . ._

That was . . . right, wasn’t it? The people in this school weren’t strangers. They were his friends.

                His vision was starting to go blurry. His head didn’t feel right.

                _I’m dying._

                Byakuya Togami said something about his memories being a mess.

                His friends were yelling at him to hold on, that he could make it.

                _Right . . . these people . . . are my friends . . ._

                There were flashes of the time he’d spent with all of them. In class and after school . . . they’d all thought he was creepy at first, being the fat kid who spent all of his time drawing doujinshi of the cartoons and comic books he loved so much. But eventually someone read one of his comics . . . Makoto Naegi, he thought . . . and they realized they weren’t all dirty.

                (Though some of them definitely were – those were only for the eyes of a select few.)

                They thought he was talented. They thought he was good at building stories, and liked his art style. Byakuya Togami was impressed with his sales figures and asked if he would mind speaking with the marketing department at one of his companies. Chihiro Fujisaki had commissioned, purchased, and framed some artwork he’d done of some of her favorite video game characters. Overtime everyone in their homeroom had modeled for him, and he’d amassed a collection of different poses. Some of them were even willing to sit down and watch some of his shows with him, which didn’t always work out at all (anime just did not interest Sakura Oogami or Aoi Asahina) or in ways he hadn’t expected (Mondo Oowada informed him that if anyone asked he was to say they were watching _Fist of the North Star_ when it was actually _Di Gi Charat_ ).

                Before he discovered the 2D world, he hadn’t been passionate about . . . anything, really. Part of him barely cared he even existed at all – he was chubby, he thought he had a weird face, and he wasn’t the most popular kid in school by a long shot. He was just sort of “there” and found himself not particularly caring what happened to him in the long run. He tried to find something he enjoyed or something to strive for, but it just wasn’t happening for him.

                And then he found his passion, and for the first time in his life Hifumi felt like he was truly alive. Something about the 2D world drew him in and he found himself entranced by the artwork, the storylines, and the fan communities that sprung up around each individual saga or series. It was fun, and he was happy, and he didn’t think he could be any happier.

                Until he discovered _doujin_ , and his life changed again.

                Hifumi had always done respectably in art classes, but he was always stuck doing drawings and paintings of fruit bowls or whatever else they were given to work with, and sure he’d doodled in the margins of his notes during class before, but something about putting together a story through images just clicked with him. He could piece together the plots in his head as if it was second nature, and coming up with dynamic, interesting panels to move the story alone just _worked_. He didn’t really know he could draw before all of that happened.

                Suddenly, he had sold thousands of copies of his doujin. He was no longer simply just getting by – he was _successful_. Somehow, someway, he’d made something of himself people were impressed by him. Better yet, it was for something he truly loved doing. He’d loved figuring out he could draw. He loved reading tutorials about how to properly use Copics and screen tones and the ins and outs of finding the right doujin printer. It was fun, and it was making him into a somebody.

                Suddenly, the other students were starting to take notice of him, which at first he loved. He hadn’t really had friends before – maybe that was why he clung to his manga and his anime so closely. So many of those stories were about the power of friendship and working as a team to achieve a common goal . . . despite the fanciful magic and adventures and comedy and spaceships and monsters and everything else he read about, that was what he wanted most. And for a moment, he believed he finally had it.

                That is, until he realized they were just looking to bolster their own reputations by associating with him. They weren’t interested in him specifically, they were interested in his success. That hurt, and for a few short weeks he shut emotionally down. He couldn’t bring himself to draw. His grades started to slip, and he spent all of his time at home in his room, barely eating (which really, really worried his parents). He didn’t want to be used. He wanted to have the kinds of relationships he saw in his beloved 2D world.

                And then the letter from Hope’s Peak Academy showed up.

                Hifumi realized that, if nothing else, he’d be safe from the kind of treatment he’d received at his current school. Everyone was kind of a big deal at Hope’s Peak, so no one would try to use him that way. But then he wondered if, because they were all talented and successful in their own ways, if he’d simply be left behind in the dust for making silly comics.

                At first . . . that was kind of the case, but Hifumi wasn’t exactly alone. Most of his class wasn’t getting along. Sayaka Maizono and Makoto Naegi spent a lot of time together because they’re gone to the same junior high school so they had a TINY bit of common ground to stand on, and the twins mostly kept to themselves ( _. . . twins . . . why is that bothering me . . . twins . . ._ ) but aside from that, no one was talking and if they were, they weren’t getting along. Sure, Yasuhiro Hagakure was nice to everyone (though Hifumi wondered how much of that was the marijuana everyone knew he was smuggling onto campus had anything to do with that) and Chihiro struck him as the kind of person who couldn’t harm a fly if they tried, but no one was really . . . connecting. Hell, Kiyotaka Ishimaru and Mondo Oowada basically hated each other and it was probably just the former’s aversion to rule breaking that prevented them from turning to physical blows.

                But overtime people started to branch out. Leon Kuwata made a big show out of asking Sayaka Maizono out on a date. The hall monitor and biker put their differences aside to stand up for Chihiro Fujisaki. Byakuya Togami got off his high horse and started treating the other students as his equals. Touko Fukawa began to crawl, ever so slowly, out of her shell.

                Of course hanging out with these people was fun and entertaining, and they were all having a good time and not using each other, but he hadn’t really “clicked” with anyone. He’d tried studying or hanging out with various members of the class – he got along very well with Makoto Naegi, but _everyone_ seemed to get along with him, and sometimes he played video games with Chihiro Fujisaki, but their tastes were too different for them to get engrossed in a game at the same level.

                He felt . . . different. They were all in much better shape than he was, and he hated changing for gym class. It wasn’t fun showering where he could see the other boys – sure, Yasuhiro Hagakure had a tummy and Mondo Oowada had some old scars from various fight and motorcycle accidents, but all it took was a change of clothing to hide those imperfections. And some of the others? Specimens. Leon Kuwata’s body was toned and tight from years of playing baseball, and Kiyotaka Ishimaru’s strict routine had kept his body in pristine condition. Makoto Naegi and Byakuya Togami were the smallest of the bunch, but there was definition beneath their skin.

                No amount of clothing could hide Hifumi’s girth, and even though no one mentioned it, he could have sworn they were talking about him behind his back. He wasn’t sure why it was bothering him now, but he hated seeing the rolls of fat that covered his body. He couldn’t even begin to compare himself to the others.

                The denizens of the 2D world didn’t judge him, so some days that was where he wanted to stay.

                Hifumi didn’t make any real connections in the 3D world until the day he lost one of his sketchbooks, went looking for it, and discovered Celes Ludenberg casually flipping through it while drinking tea. He’d been outraged at first – going through an artist’s sketchbook without their permission was simply not done, and here she was going through it like it was a children’s coloring book she was looking to buy for a child she didn’t particularly care about.

                Or . . . so he thought.

                “ _. . . this is really good._ ”

                Hifumi had been surprised at first, though he recalled she was heavily into gothic lolita and wondered if she was a fan. She admitted she really wasn’t – she’d watched _Sailor Moon_ as a little girl but that was about it for her and anime. Rather, she was enthralled by the story he was trying to flesh out and wanted to know when she could read the rest. Surprised but flattered, Hifumi said he would let her know.

                And then it spread to the others. And their interest was . . . genuine.

                He has Celes Ludenberg to thank for all that.

                Celes Ludenerg was not the kind of person Hifumi even expected would become his best friend. She was dainty and delicate and . . . actually she could swear like a sailor when she got angry, but mostly she was refined and elegant. Those were not words Hifumi would use to describe himself at all – he was awkward and clumsy and bulky. But they learned from each other and, well, grew as individuals, since they each had something the other lacked. Celes Ludenberg had a better grasp of social interaction, but wasn’t true to herself. Hifumi was terrible at interacting with people, but was something of an open book.

                They complimented each other and were near constant companions, and over time things got better for both of them. Hifumi’s world opened up beyond the 2D and into the 3D – he began to explore other interests and do other things, and was able to build friendships with the other students. At the same time, Celes Ludenberg let down her walls, culminating in the revelation of her real name – Taeko Yasuhiro.

                They could relax around each other and be themselves.

                Hifumi still loved the world of 2D, but it wasn’t a place he wanted to live in anymore. It was a place to visit, a place to work, a place to play, but not a place where he could exist. He didn’t belong there, but for the longest time the way home was enveloped in darkness so deep he couldn’t even tell how lost he was.

                Taeko Yasuhiro was his beacon of hope showing him the way back home to the 3D world.

                Until now. Now she’d cut him off from the 2D world and the 3D world.

                No. No he wasn’t going to make it.

                But he wasn’t gone . . . not yet . . .

                All he had to do was name his killer, and  . . . her name was Taeko . . . Taeko Yasuhiro . . .

                “. . . e . . . ko . . . Yasu . . . Hiro . . .”

                Hifumi closed his eyes.

                _Ding dang ding dong!_

_“A body has been discovered! After a brief investigation the class trial will begin!_ ”

                Hifumi opened his eyes. That didn’t make any sense. How could he hear the corpse discovery announcement if he was still alive? Actually, why did he feel strangely better? His head didn’t hurt and he felt like he could sit up. His head was less foggy now, too. He forced himself into a sitting position, looked around, and shrieked.

                Four other people were in the room – Sayaka Maizono, Leon Kuwata, Chihiro Fujisaki, and Mondo Oowada. All of them were transparent, none of them noticed by the rest of the students in the room. Three of them were watching him in shock and horror, and the fourth was fuming with anger, diving forward to grab the lapels of his jacket to scream at him.

                “ _What the fuck is wrong with you!? Why did you kill him!? Why did you do it!?_ ”

                “Mondo, calm down! It’s not like you’ve got any business saying anything to him about that!” Leon Kuwata had grabbed Mondo Oowada by the shoulder and was glaring daggers at him. “Got that? Accident or lapse of judgement or not, you and I _do not_ get to pass judgement on _anyone_ who makes the same mistake we did!”

                Mondo Oowada hadn’t released him, but he wasn’t angry anymore. Not in the same way, at least. Tears were streaming down his face, and Hifumi remembered that Kiyotaka Ishimaru had been one of his dearest friends not only during this horrible ordeal but . . . before that time as well. The two of them and Chihiro Fujisaki had practically been inseperable, like the heroes of a shonen manga about the virtues of friendship. Of course he was angry.

                But . . . why what Mondo Oowada even there in the first place? Hadn’t he died . . .?

                Hifumi turned his head and saw Aoi Asahina sobbing over his own corpse.

                He’d been right. He wasn’t able to make it.

                That corpse discovery announcement had been for him this time. He wasn’t playing possum anymore – he was roadkill. Taeko Yasuhiro had tricked him into murdering Kiyotaka Ishimaru (whom Hifumi now strongly doubted had done _anything_ to hurt her, even as a means to get Alter Ego) all to cause enough chaos and confusion to get _herself_ out of the school. He was just another casualty.

                “Wh . . . what have I done!?” Hifumi grabbed his head – he could have sworn he was hyperventilating, but there was no passage of air in and out of his lungs. He wasn’t breathing. He was _dead_. “I . . . I killed Master Kiyotaka Ishimaru! _Oh God I killed someone! Oh God, oh God, what have I done, what have I done!?_ ”

                Sayaka Maizono shooed Mondo Oowada away from him and knelt down. “What happened?”

                Hifumi made a swallowing motion as he looked at the four assembled before him. “Are . . . are you all dead, too?”

                “No, Yamada, our invisibility cloaks are only working at 50% _yes we’re dead!_ ” Leon Kuwata snapped.

                Chihiro Fujisaki shook her head. “Not now,” she said.

                “We got our memories back after we died . . .” Sayaka lowered her eyes, taking a moment to collect herself and her thoughts before continuing, “though it looks like you got some of yours back before you . . . perished.”

                “Huh? What are you talking about?” asked Chihiro Fujisaki.

                “You didn’t notice?” asked Sayaka Maizono. “He said he remembered he’d met everyone before.”

                “Must’ve been the hit to his head not killing him right away,” Mondo Oowada mumbled.

                Hifumi gripped his knee before his head snapped back up. “Master Kiyotaka Ishimaru!”

                “He’s missing,” said Chihiro Fujisaki. She hugged herself and clenched her eyes shut. “We didn’t know he was in trouble . . . we weren’t there for him . . . and now we don’t know where he is . . .” She looked like she was about to burst into tears and Mondo Oowada materialized by her side, patting her head and telling her that they would find him eventually and not to panic.

                Hifumi frowned. It looked like once their memories returned they were all able to forgive each other. Leon Kuwata and Sayaka Maizono were doing the “couples who can talk to each other without having to actually talk to each other” thing and then there was the whole scene with the other two . . . he wondered if Kiyotaka Ishimaru would ever forgive him for what he’d done. Then he looked at Taeko Yasuhiro and wondered if he’d been able to forgive her in turn.

                “Kiyotaka isn’t the only one who’s missing – Junko’s gone, too,” said Leon.

                _Junko_ . . . Hifumi’s lip curled into a sneer. _Her_. “Good riddance to her!” he said.

                “Excuse you?” asked Sayaka, looking like she was ready to smack him.

                “Wh . . . why would you all be taking _her_ side!?” he asked. “You forgive each other but you won’t forgive her for everything she’s done, all the blood on _her_ hands?!”

                “Yamada . . . what are you talking about? Junko’s the only one who didn’t kill _anyone_ – directly, indirectly, or by vote,” said Mondo Oowada, looking at him in slight disgust. “I mean yeah she and I have unpleasant history but for fuck’s sake dude she got impaled for trying to stop this maddess! She got skewered for standing up to Monokuma.”

                Hifumi thought about this. “But . . . how?”

                “Spears came out of the floor and the walls, though that raises more questions,” said Leon Kuwata.

                “You guys . . . don’t remember _everything_ , do you?” he said.

                Sayaka Maizono’s eyes widened. “Yamada’s the only one of us who died _after_ getting his memories back,” she said. “That’s different from everyone else here!” She grabbed his shoulders. “Do you remember how our memories were taken away from us?!”

                “You guys seriously _don’t_ remember that?” Hifumi asked in shock.

                “Everything surrounding what we think was our memories being taken away is kind of fuzzy,” said Chihiro Fujisaki, pulling away from Mondo Oowada to walk towards him. “Lots of flashes of things but . . . no memories. We don’t know who’s behind it or how they took our memories or anything. All we know is someone did something to us that made us forget.”

                “Master Chihiro Fujisaki . . . that someone was Junko Enoshima.”

                Although the living students were still discussing the murder, the remaining ghosts were stunned silent. Leon Kuwata dropped to the floor, his jaw hanging off its hinges. Mondo Oowada was holding Chihiro Fujisaki tightly, but staring at Hifumi as if he’d just sprouted a second head. Chihiro Fujisaki’s visage was not far off from the biker.

                “Junko . . . did all this?” asked Sayaka asked in disbelief.

                “But . . . we all watched her die,” said Leon. “She was stabbed with spikey poles!”

                Hifumi shook his head. “No! No I’m sure it was her!” He clenched his eyes shut. “Days before we were taken to have our memories erased we were all locked in the classrooms on the first two floors with nothing but a TV monitor in each room and . . .” He fought back tears. “Monokuma . . . Junko . . . had our headmaster executed.”

                “Headmaster Kirigiri is _dead!?_ ” asked Mondo Oowada, eyes wide in panic.

                “He was vaporized . . . nothing but bones left. She needed him out of the way to do . . . _this_  . . . to us.” Hifumi was shaking. “After . . . after we were forced to watch . . . we heard Master Junko Enoshima’s voice over the loudspeaker . . . she . . . she’s been televising this whole ordeal for the outside world to see! She told us she was going to force us to kill each other to spread despair everywhere! She wanted to make the world watch their last hope . . . us . . . destroy each other!”

                “But . . . that doesn’t make any sense! How could she be responsible if she’s dead?!” asked Leon Kuwata. “Was it maybe all some kind of illusion to make us think she was dead? Like she used a hologram or a puppet or special effects or something to make it look like she died? Because that was pretty real.”

                Chihiro Fujiaki gasped. “It _was_ an illusion, but someone _really_ died!” The other four ghosts looked at her in confusion. “The first day we all woke up, everyone was commenting how different she looked from the magazines and she said something about photo touch ups, but Junko always prided herself on not having her photos worked on!”

                “Meaning?” asked Mondo Oowada.

                “ _Oh my gosh that was Mukuro!_ ” Sayaka Maizono slapped her hands over her mouth.

                Hifumi gasped. “That’s right! Master Mukuro Ikusaba has not been present for the game!”

                “Except she _was_! She was pretending to be her sister the whole time!” said Mondo Oowada.

                “Wait . . . was Mukuro involved in this?” asked Leon Kuwata.

                Hifumi lowered his head. “Technically yes but . . . I’m not sure how . . . loyal or passionate she was about the whole thing – she didn’t say anything when given the chance, and before I was brought to the room where they took our memories I saw her and . . . she looked miserable. Master Mukuro Ikusaba was always desperately trying to get her little sister’s attention . . . I suppose she may have gotten desperate enough to help her end the world, too.”

                “Hold on a second, you said Junko was responsible for the School Life of Mutual Killing, not the World's Most Despair Inducing Incident – did she do _that_ too!?” asked Leon Kuwata, crawling toward Hifumi . “This . . . this is one thing, a lot of people went nuts when the world ended . . . but she’s the one who _started_ it!?”

                “That might be another explanation for why we haven’t found her – if she’s Mukuro and she knows we have our memories back, even just some of them, we’d know it was her, not Junko, right away,” said Sayaka Maizono. “I wasn’t around when she died so until Leon was executed I assumed I was the only one haunting the school.”

                “That doesn’t explain why Master Kiyotaka Ishimaru is missing,” said Hifumi.

                “There’s a wolf monster running around the school,” said Leon Kuwata.

                “. . . today jut keeps getting better and better,” Hifumi muttered.

                “It can’t do doors like we can.”

                “. . . I don’t know what that means, Master Leon Kuwata.”

                “Okay, everyone, time out!” said Sayaka Maizono, making a “t” with her hands. “There is now a LOT on our plates. We have two missing ghosts, a trial to attend, and details to fill each other in on. It might be time that we split up. Someone needs to look for Kiyotaka and Mukuro, someone needs to go to the trial to find out if Celes is going to get away with killing Yamada or not, and we need to figure out what Yamada knows that the rest of don’t and vice versa.”

                “Are you sure that’s a good idea, baby?” Leon Kuwata put his hands on Sayaka Maizono’s shoulders, looking at her with concern. “What with the wolf thing running around and the possibility it got Kiyotaka and . . . maybe even Mukuro . . . that’s really dangerous . . .”

                “We don’t have a choice,” said Sayaka Maizono.

                “I think she’s right, Leon,” said Chihiro Fujisaki.

                “Okay, Yamada, Sayaka and I will head to the trial – Mondo, you and Chihiro look for Kiyotaka and Mukuro. Kiyotaka should at least respond to the two of you, though I have no idea what we’re going to do about Mukuro. She’s a Super High School Level Soldier with mercenary work under her belt – if she doesn’t want to be found, she’s not going to be found.”

                “Actually . . . I think I’d like to help look for Kiyotaka and Mukuro,” said Sayaka Maizono. The others looked at her strangely. “I used to give Mukuro dancing lessons – I kind of know her. Maybe if she knows I’m one of the ones searching for her she’ll respond to me. Also . . . I have an idea about the wolf monster I’d like to try.”

                “I would actually like to request Master Mondo Oowada attend the trial,” said Hifumi. “Master Junko Enoshima showed us mockups of our ironic punishments and I suspect we’re going to need his strength if Master Taeko Yasuhiro is found guilty. He intends to crush her with a firetruck after burning her at the stake.”

                “Even after what she did to you you’re worried about her?” asked Mondo Oowada.

                “We talked about this earlier, Mondo – we’re pretty sure this was bait she couldn’t refuse, least of all when she’s scared and desperate,” said Leon Kuwata. “Yamada’s right – we can’t leave her to be stuck under a fire truck for all eternity. Sayaka’s said it a dozen times – it’s all Monokuma’s fault. Only difference is that we know who’s pulling his strings now.”

                “So we’re agreed? We’re really splitting up?”

                The five ghosts exchanged a series of brief looks before nodding to each other and exiting the art supply room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ding dang ding dong! Author’s Announcements
> 
> Why is Leon my go to comic relief for sass and sarcasm? I mean he’s accusing Sayaka of looking up yaoi titles and trying to hook Yamada up with a laptop . . . where did this come from? I mean I agree with the people who think I write Mondo the best but gosh Leon’s been fun. 
> 
> For those of you wondering where Ishimaru was taken, you’ll find out either next chapter or the chapter after that. 
> 
> This chapter was posted on July 31st, which happens to be my birthday and I always try to have something to post on my birthday so this year the Dangan Ronpa folks get the benefit of that tradition!
> 
> (And I finally got a PS Vita so I can finally PLAY THE DAMN GAME). 
> 
> Song Choice: “Momentum” by the Hush Sound. This is the second song for these guys and it probably won’t be the last. I find a lot of their songs kind of . . . not happy, to say the least. And that fits (some) of this fic’s tone rather nicely.
> 
> Dixxy


	9. How Come You're Not Here?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something horrible happens to Kiyotaka, but he has no idea exactly what.

Haunted

By Dixxy Mouri

Chapter Eight: How Come You’re Not Here?

                                

                The group didn’t go their separate ways immediately, which made sense. It was going to be a while before the investigation was finished, and the boys wouldn’t be able to head to the trial until then. The group chose to shadow Naegi during his investigation, with Yamada explaining what Celes had planned. 

                Chihiro was only half listening to his explanation. She didn’t doubt this was in no small part to Kiyotaka being dragged into the mess as well, but there was something else afoot. Sayaka was being oddly dodgy about her plan, which Chihiro thought was a little odd. Ultimately she decided she needed to trust the pop starlet. She wanted to find Kiyotaka; wherever he was, he must have been scared and alone in the wake of his murder and she needed to be there for him.

Assuming, of course, he’d hadn’t been found by . . . _that_.

Chihiro swallowed. She needed to believe that hadn’t happened.

                There was an announcement – Monokuma was tired of waiting and wanted to begin the class trial. Chihiro swallowed. She knew in her heart that the “best” possible outcome was Celes being found out and executed, but it was still a horrible situation. She didn’t want Celes to die, even if she’d orchestrated Kiyotaka’s death. But she also didn’t want Naegi and the others to be killed if they got it wrong. She frowned, wringing the hem of her skirt in frustration.

                _Why can’t the killing just stop?_

                Leon and Mondo were quietly discussing where they thought Celes might have screwed up, or if they suspected Kirigiri or Naegi had figured out what happened. Neither of them could pinpoint anything, but suspected that wouldn’t stop their Super High School Level Hope or their Super High School Level Detective.

                Yamada was still shaken from everything he’d gone through, and Chihiro found herself oddly sympathetic. He’d been manipulated and used – that had to feel terrible. Even if he’d been the one to actually kill Kiyotaka, he’d been completely fooled by Celes and killed in turn. All in all it had served to make a bad situation even worse.

                Once they reached the first floor, Sayaka gestured for Chihiro to follow her into the dormitories. “The dorms?” asked Leon. He crossed his arms, looking at her quizzically. “Do you think Kiyotaka and Mukuro went back to their rooms?” Chihiro thought this over. It was possible one or both of them could have concluded it was some sort of nightmare and maybe thought going back to bed might help?

                But Mukuro had been dead for days by now – she would have figured out that there was no sleep for ghosts. And Kiyotaka . . . well it was hard to know what he would and wouldn’t do in that altered state of mind he’d been in, if that was where he was emotionally, but Yamada said that, in his final moments, he got the distinct idea that the prefect was himself again.

                _“Master Kiyotaka Ishimaru was begging for his life . . . and my life. He told me Monokuma would kill me. If I’d just listened to him we’d both still be alive and . .  maybe I could have talked Master Taeko Yasuhiro out of her plan . . . now she’s going to die, too, and it’s all my fault . . . he would have saved all three of us but . . .”_

                Mondo had patted Yamada’s shoulder, quietly reminding him that this was all Junko’s fault.

                Now the boys were out of sight as Sayaka led them to the dormitory. “Where are we going?”

                “Naegi-kun’s room,” said Sayaka.

                Chihiro blinked. “The place you . . .”

                “Exactly,” said Sayaka. “See, I got an idea about . . . something,” she said. She gave Chihiro a weak smile. “Leon and I figured out that objects we die with sort of . . . well there are ‘ghost’ versions of those objects, too. That’s probably why Mondo was still tied up after his execution – the rope came with him.”

                Chihiro didn’t understand until she saw Sayaka head towards the shower room. “Wait, you think that’s still . . . but what are you going to do with . . .” If she’d been alive, the blood would have drained from her face as realization of Sayaka’s plan donned on her. “ _Sayaka! That’s insane! You can’t be serious about this!_ ” She cried, following the pop starlet inside.

                Sayaka and Chihiro stood just inside the doorway. To the living eye, the room had been cleaned up in the wake of the murder. No blood, no body. The only thing evident from the room was that Naegi had been using it - it was still a little damp from the last time he’d been in there, and his toothbrush was sitting in a cup on the edge of the sink.

                Only the dead could see the knife laying still where Sayaka had died.

                Chihiro swallowed. “How did you know it would be here?”

                “. . . honestly, I didn’t,” said Sayaka. “I couldn’t see it after I died – my body was on top of it, and I haven’t been back here since everyone went to the Le . . . the first trial.” She crouched over it. “I know it sounds crazy, Chihiro, but none of us are armed and we need something to defend ourselves with against the wolf monster.”

                “Sayaka, I don’t think you’re the one to do that,” said Chihiro. “Kiyotaka knows kendo-“

                “-which has a lot of form, courtesy, and pageantry to it – the wolf won’t care about any of those things,” said Sayaka. “Mondo’s been in fights, sure, but those were street brawls – it’s too informal, and besides, his first instinct was to run when he saw the thing, so who’s to say if he’d be able to fight back: he certainly doesn’t think he can. The only dead person who might stand a chance against the wolf monster is Mukuro, and we don’t know if we can trust her.”

                Chihiro frowned. She had a point, unfortunately.  If what Yamada had said was true, and it didn’t seem like he’d have a reason to lie about it, Mukuro’s was, well, dubious. They MIGHT be able to trust her, considering Yamada thought she was hesitant about the whole thing, or at least a little reluctant, and she _had_ been killed very early on. On the other hand? She’d deceived them all into thinking she was her sister – none of the ghosts quite understood why, but it was sketchy at best, damning at worst.

                “So what now?” asked Chihiro.

                Sayaka solemnly stuck the knife into the waist of her skirt. “We look for Kiyotaka and Mukuro.”

                “Didn’t you just say we can’t trust her?” Chihiro asked as they exited Naegi’s room.

                “We don’t know. On the one hand, she helped. On the other hand, she’s dead, and Yamada seems skeptical of her willingness to participate.” Sayaka sighed heavily. “Junko’s been bullying her into doing things she doesn’t want to do or out of things she _does_ like to do. Everyone knew that, so I guess it’s possible she could have been pushed into this, too.”

                “Yeah . . . Junko is very controlling . . . and if she _is_ the mastermind she’s controlling everyone right now,” said Chihiro. “Even the ones who are dead – we still can’t leave the school or access the places she’s restricted.” She sighed. “But that doesn’t make any sense. Junko isn’t some sort of powerful demon sorceress or anything . . . right?”

                “I . . . don’t think so . . .” said Sayaka, though she hesitated.

                “But . . . back to Mukuro . . . is she really that easily swayed by her sister?”

                “I know you and your boys never showed up, but there was a small, informal ‘dance club’ that was started because I found Mukuro trying to teach herself to dance one day,” said Sayaka. She closed her eyes. “We met about once a week in the music room so I could give her lessons and eventually others started to join us. Naturally Leon was there, Naegi sometimes, too. Celes and Aoi and Sakura were pretty consistent. Some kids from the other classes . . . we had so much fun, and I think those were the only times I ever saw her really smile.”

                Chihiro wondered if she’d even seen a real smile from Mukuro. She would raise the corners of her mouth to be polite when giving oral reports in class or engaging in small talk, but there was always something a little empty about her – the opposite of her sister, who seemed to have a whirlwind of emotions around her at any given moment.

                “Over time she got really good at it, too; being a soldier, she knows how to move precisely, so she picked it up like it was nothing. But one night a group of girls went out to one of the clubs in town, and this time both Junko and Mukuro went – Junko had never been to our dance club meetings before and didn’t seem to know her twin had been going regularly. Mukuro let loose and Junko got REALLY angry with her. She stopped showing up after that and barely spoke with me, like she was afraid she’d be hurt if she did.”

                Chihiro swallowed. “That sounds horrible. Poor Mukuro.”

                “That’s why, while I don’t know for sure if we can trust her . . . I think there’s a chance we can. But we’d need to talk Mukuro into it – she might be clinging to some kind of idea or hope that dying somehow finally got her sister’s approval, but I don’t think that’s the case at all it’s up to us to get through to her, and since Junko can’t touch her right now . . . maybe we can.”

                The girls began to call for the missing apparitions, wondering if Mukuro was trustworthy or Kiyotaka was sane. Chihiro stuck with calling for her big brother, while Sayaka tried her luck with her former student. No luck throughout the dorms, the bathhouse, or the dinning hall. Not even the laundry or trash room showed any sign of either of them.

                “Where could Kiyotaka have gone?” asked Chihiro as they entered the halls of the school itself. “I understand why Mukuro is hiding from us but I don’t understand why he’s running away.” She sniffled. “I just . . . I just hope he didn’t get eaten by the wolf monster . . .” Chihiro stopped in front of the AV room, fighting back tears. Sayaka stoped and turned back to embrace her, trying to comfort her.

                “It’s . . . we’ll figure this out, okay, Chi?”

                “But, but we’re all dead . . . how is anything ever going to be okay again?” She swallowed. “We’re never going to grow up or have lives and families . . . we can’t have any of that!” She returned Sayaka’s hug. “You were supposed to be a super successful singer, Leon was going to play professional baseball _and_ be a super successful singer, Kiyotaka was going to be Prime Minister, Mondo was going to get out of the gang and be a carpenter . . . we can’t do any of that now!”

                “I know,” she said, “but we have to figure out _something_.”

                Chihiro smiled and moved to head forward again, but immediately froze.

                “Chi, what’s – EEEEYYYYAAAHHHHH!”

 

                Monokuma had made some sort of tasteless joke about the double murder before the living students began to shuffle into the elevator. Leon, Mondo, and Yamada were making their way in as well, nervous about the outcome. They didn’t want anyone else to die, but the best case scenario was Celes not making the return trip . . . at least, not in a form the rest of the students could see.

                “Fuckin’ Junko,” Leon muttered as he leaned against the interior wall of the elevator.

                Mondo sighed. He was still trying to wrap his head about Yamada’s story. He knew Junko was crazy in that “crazy ex-girlfriend” sense, sure, but crazy enough to do all this? It seemed so surreal, but in a bizarre way . . . it made a frightening amount of sense. Mondo had been with other girls before Junko, and a few of them were a little, eh, “eccentric”, but it was all harmless stuff, really. Junko was . . . unsettling, uncomfortable. Little things like cancelling a date because of a bad horoscope or singing (badly) in the middle of a crowded shopping center when their favorite song came on in the background was one thing. Weird, obnoxious, sure. Junko? She could get downright _disturbing_.

                Yamada was still a little shaken, and he wondered if maybe it was a bad idea to bring him along after all. Sayaka and Chihiro had been afforded a little more time to get over the initial shock of their deaths before their trials (though he was doubtful any of them were “over” their deaths), whereas he’d been dead for less than two hours. “Are you sure you want to do this? Leon or I can head down alone if you don’t think you can do this,” said Mondo.

                “No, no, I’ll be okay . . . but thank you,” he stuttered.

                The last of the living students boarded the elevator, and the doors began to creak close.             

                Just before the doors clicked shut, the sound of screaming could be heard.

                Leon reacted first, bolting towards the exit. “ _SAYAKA!_ ”

                Mondo’s eyes widened. _Chihiro!_ “No!”

                “EEEYYYYYAAAA!” Yamada screamed.

                But neither of them made it to the door in time. The elevator doors had shut tight, and there was nothing either of the frantic ghosts could do to open the doors. Even if they were still alive, Mondo didn’t think they would – there was no way Junko would want anyone to try and escape the class trial at the last minute.

                It was no use. The elevator began to creak and descend to the courtroom, and none of the other students were aware that something _else_ was happening. Defeated, Leon and Mondo sunk to their knees, watching as the last bit of light from the first floor disappeared, and all that was left was the illumination from their moving cage.

                Leon started to sob into his hands. “If I hadn’t . . . if I hadn’t . . . Sayaka . . .”

                “Chihiro . . . no . . .” Mondo fell against the wall, disgusted with himself.

                The elevator sank deeper and deeper into the school.

 

                They were tall, hulking creatures who only vaguely resembled human forms. They had no faces, only a gash for a mouth and glowing red slits for eyes. Worse still, they were colored just like Monokuma and the wolf, although she suspected they had more to do with the canine than the ursine in their midst.

                Sayaka gripped the knife tightly. She and Chihiro had stopped screaming for the moment, and the latter was hiding behind her. Well, of course, that made sense. She was the one with the weapon, so if someone was going to make this monster go away, it was going to be her, right? She swallowed, tried to stand her ground, and raised the knife, pointing it at the creatures.

                “ _Go away!_ ” she shouted.

                The creatures stared at her before beginning their advance on them.

                Chihiro panicked and ran – one monster took chase after her, brushing past Sayaka as if she was nothing. “ _Chihiro!_ ” she screamed, but it was no use – if the programmer could hear her, she was too busy screaming to respond to her. That left her alone with the other monster, whose mouth had slowly crept into a grin as it reached for her like a spoiled child in a toy store.

                “ _Get away, get away!_ ” Sayaka yelled, slashing out at the monster. She managed to knick its arm, and for a moment it stopped to look at the injury. For a moment, Sayaka thought she had won – she could hurt it, maybe she could kill it. But before she could attack again, the creature howled at her – a bellowing, inhuman boom knocked her off her feet and sent the kitchen knife skittering across the tile floor.

                Sayaka wasn’t able to get very far before the beast hoisted her over its shoulder and began to carry her away.

 

                Mukuro lifted her head at the sound of the bellow. _What the_ hell _was_ that!?

 

                Kiyotaka discovered that even though it was _difficult_ , it was definitely _possible_ to get away from the two-toned beasts haunting the school with them. That was the good news. The _bad_ news was, for some reason, these things could move between floors and bring him along with them, but he couldn’t – his escape attempts for the lower floors were cut short by the horrifying realization that he couldn’t move through the grates blocking off the lower parts of the stairwells.

                Now he was trapped on the top floor of the school, hiding in one of the . . . _clean_ . . . classrooms. The garden would have had more viable options for hiding, but they seemed to be heading in that direction so that made it a bad idea. Maybe the bio lab, but it was a long shot down that hallway – way too risky to try it. 

                It was a terrible situation. He couldn’t get to the lower floor unless there was _another_ murder incident after what happened to him and . . . well, whoever else Yamada had killed, he guessed, and he didn’t want to see two more of his friend die. But if the stairwells _didn’t_ open up, he was going to be found eventually. He could hear the monsters outside of the classroom, making low moaning sounds as they searched for him. Kiyotaka tried to shrink even further into his corner, clenching his eyes shut.

                If his heart was still beating it would have been trying to explode from his chest.

                It all came to a head when one of the monsters entered the classroom, and he screamed. There was no escape now, but he realized there never was one to begin with. The monster let out a deep, booming bellow that knocked him off his feet. The creature reached down to grab his boot and began to drag him across the floor and out towards the hallway. Kiyotaka clawed at the ground, but it was no use – he couldn’t get a good grip on anything, and no matter what he grabbed it slipped through his fingers – desk legs, chairs, nothing worked. He wasn’t going to get away this time.

                Making matters even worse? He could hear screaming in the distance.

                Kiyotaka’s fears were confirmed when the creature dragged him out into the hallway and he could see one of the monsters had Maizono over its shoulder. She was shrieking at the top of her lungs (or at least what _would_ have been the top of her lungs, if she were still able to use them) as she made her fruitless struggle for freedom. “ _Maizono-san!_ ”

                Maizono stopped struggling just long enough to look in his direction, and she gasped in surprise. “Ishimaru-kun!?” Her eyes lit up with relief for a moment when she saw him, but immediately fell back into desperation – he was in no position to help her, and she was in no position to help him. They resumed their struggles, but it was no use. They were dragged towards the wooden door of the dojo, which seemed to have an unnatural, otherworldly feel to it. Kiyotaka tried to kick himself free – whatever was on the other side of that door he wanted no part of.

                Kiyotaka was pulled through the doors and into the school’s dojo. The sickening sensation he’d felt before only intensified – floating orbs of red light lined the walls, even out into the archery range. Over by the targets stood a hooded figure carrying a huge cutlass with a crooked, jagged edge, where he stood in the middle of a circle of red stones. Kiyotaka wasn’t sure, but he was positive all of this would have been invisible to the living. Whatever this was belonged to the other side.

                The creature carrying Maizono had entered the dojo as well. It put her down, but held her in place. “ _Ishimaru-kun! What’s going on!? Where have you been!?”_ Maizono was reached for him, and he tried to grab her hand in return. But the monster holding his boot hadn’t stopped, and they were already well out of arm’s reach.

                “ _Maizono-san!_ ”

                _If I only I could reach out and grab her hand . . . if only . . ._

                Kiyotaka was thrown into the ring of red stones, which he tried to scramble out of. That effort proved useless, as he seemed to encounter some sort of invisible wall. He pound his fists against it, watching as the hooded figure began to glide over to him. He started to claw at the invisible barrier, desperate to get away.

                _Please, please, please! Let me out of here!_

                The hooded figure raised his sword above his head with a jet black hand, and Kiyotaka felt his form go limp. He felt some invisible force pull him to his feet, and then lift him a few inches off the ground. His arms were raised out to the sides, and there he hung, too scared to scream or cry. He could only stare at the mouth of the hood, which seemed to be emptier than possible as the darkness inside of the hood stretched on forever and ever. This, he realized, was an abyss, and he was staring right at it.

                A milky white hand emerged from the cloak, seeming to beckon him closer. Kiyotaka couldn’t move, but he could feel . . . something beginning to stir, from the center of his chest. He struggled for a few moments, trying to get away. He could hear Sayaka behind him, screaming his name and cursing at the hooded figure to let them go.

                But then, inexplicably, he felt himself begin to relax. Physically, at least. All of the tenseness in his form went away, almost as if nothing was wrong. Everything was going to be fine. No matter how much that little voice inside of his head screamed and yelled and told him he was in danger . . . it was okay. Oddly enough, it was going to be okay.

                Kiyotaka let out a little gasp as a faint glow emerged from his chest, and some sort of thread began to float out towards the hooded figure. It was fine and shimmering, red as a rose and moving through the air like a fishtail in water. Its presence was somehow comforting, and he couldn’t help but smile. Yes. Yes, this was all right. He closed his eyes – even in this awkward position, even with all of the horrible things going on around him, he felt like he could fall asleep right there.

                _Taka! Taka!_

Groggily, Kiyotaka opened his eyes. He didn’t let a lot of people call him that – just his family. Sometimes Chihiro called him that, but for the most part it was just his parents, his aunts and uncles and cousins, and his grandparents (even the grandfather he still had a lot of mixed feelings about), and that was really it. Which meant . . . yes, yes he definitely knew that voice. He could have cried if he had the energy. “Mom?” he asked weakly. “Mom . . . is that you?”

                Even though Kiyotaka definitely couldn’t see her, he could undoubtedly hear his mother’s voice. She was upset about something . . . she hadn’t been this upset since the day he’d been returned to her and she’d been screaming at all of the policemen and doctors and nurses who’d kept him away from her. _Taka! Taka, baby, hurry!_

“Mom?” he asked. He didn’t understand what she wanted him to _do_ , exactly.

                _Kiyotaka, hurry! You need to get out of there!_

                “. . .  Grandfather?” he asked. “I don’t . . . I don’t understand . . .”

                _Taka! Taka, please, do something!_

                Kiyotaka wanted to start crying. He couldn’t move, he was tired, and he didn’t understand what they wanted him to do. _Unless . . . are they . . . are they calling me the other side?_ He wearily blinked. That had to be it. His parents and his grandfather were dead, right? And if he could hear them and this wasn’t some kind of hallucination . . . that had to be it.

                It was . . . over. But . . . in a strange way . . . that was all right. He’d be with his family again. He’d never lived the life he wanted to live (too short . . . he’d never graduate from a _real_ school, have a career, start a family, become Prime Minister . . . none of it), but he’d be at peace. No more being trapped in the school. No more School Life of Mutual Killing, no more World's Most Despair Inducing Incident. Just . . . peace.

                So why were his mother and grandfather screaming for him?

                _TAKA!_ _TA-_

                SWISH!

                In one sudden movement, the hooded figured had grabbed the red string, yanked it forward, and sliced through it with the jagged sword. The sound of his mother and grandfather’s voices vanished as if they had never been there, and he was jolted wide awake as the most intense pain he’d ever experienced, alive or dead, suddenly took hold of his form. He fell to the ground, curling into the fetal position as he screamed. _Everything_ hurt – it was throbbing, it was searing, it was stinging, it was burning, it was freezing, it was every kind of pain he could think of, all at once and all at the worst intensity he could imagine.

                Kiyotaka couldn’t focus. Something was wrong. Something was _very_ wrong. Whatever that red string was had been important, and now it was gone. He wanted to know what they’d done to him, but he couldn’t even do that – the pain was too intense to form words. All he could do was scream as one of the two toned monsters grabbed hold of him arm.

                Kiyotaka wasn’t even aware he was being dragged out of the dojo and Maizono was being dragged further in, screaming the whole way for fear of what the hooded figure would do to her. All he knew was that whatever had happened to him had somehow taken something away from him. There was an emptiness he’d never felt before, even worse than the absence of a living body.

                What had that hooded figure done to him!?

 

                There was no way she’d be able to outrun it forever.

                Chihiro had found temporary refuge in one of the classrooms on the third floor, hiding herself away in a corner, but she knew, she just _knew_ , that thing was going to discover her sooner or later. Maybe she’d be able to get it tripped up among the desks and the chairs . . . maybe . . . but most likely it would . . . it was going to _get her_. And she had no idea what it planned to do with her once it had her.

                Not that she was itching to find out, of course.

                Chihiro’s back tensed up – she could feel the presence of the monster. She got as quiet as she could, for a brief moment thankful she couldn’t breathe and had no heartbeat. She clenched her eyes shut, keeping as still and as quiet as possible. Maybe it wouldn’t find her. Maybe it would leave. _Please . . . please . . . please go away . . . please . . ._

                Chihiro opened her eyes and shrieked when she saw the creature was staring at her from the other side of the room. It grinned, its arms outstretched towards her as it drew closer and closer. She shrieked and bolted forward, somehow getting between its legs and to the door. It bellowed and gave chase after her.

                _I won’t be able to outrun it forever . . . it’s going to . . ._

The creature made a new sound; a gurgling, choking sound unlike the moans and screams it had made before. Curiosity got the better of Chihiro and she turned to see the monster clutching at its throat as a dark purple liquid oozed from its fingers. It feel to its knees before slumping forward, ceasing all movement. Somehow, the thing was . . . dead (or, maybe, dead _er_ ).

                Chihiro sank to the floor in shock at the sight before her, covering her mouth with her hands and trying very hard not to scream again. It couldn’t have just spontaneously died, right? That wouldn’t make sense (though not a lot had been making much sense recently). So that meant someone must have killed it, right?

                It didn’t take long for Chihiro to spot her rescuer. Mukuro Ikusaba was “breathing” heavily as she stood over her fallen foe, a survival knife still clutched tightly in each hand. She stared at it in surprise and horror, clearly not sure what to make of it even after she’d ended its existence. The soldier closed her eyes before returning the knives to where they’d come from (which was under her skirt . . . somehow . . . Chihiro had no idea how one would hide two huge survival knifes under a skirt that short but wisely decided to table that thought exercise for another day).

                “Are you all right Fujisaki-san?” Mukuro asked quietly.

                “Um . . . other than being a ghost, I, um, think so,” she said.

                Mukuro turned to look at the other ghost, and Chihiro swallowed. She was definitely wearing the outfit “Junko” had been wearing when she died, which only seemed to prove that Yamada’s horrible story was the truth. If this part had been real, then why would the rest of it be fake? She clenched her eyes shut. The world was over, and the person before her was at least partly to blame.

                Somehow, there were more pressing matters at hand. “Do you know what that thing was?”

                It took Chihiro a moment to realize Mukuro had asked her a question, and another moment to realize that not only was there no reason to not give an answer, but it was probably best that she told the former mercenary everything. If she’d been willing to help once and actually able to kill one of those things, she was an indispensable ally. “. . . no, I don’t, but we were chased by a wolf monster last night.”

                Mukuro’s face and voice had been relatively flat and emotionless, but once the information about the wolf monster began to set in her eyes widened and a subtle sense of urgency permeated her voice. “Wait, that’s what you were all screaming about last night?” Chihiro nodded and Mukuro turned her head to swear.

                “It chased us around the first floor, and then we figured out it can’t go through doors . . . I’m assuming you can, too . . . so we hid in the gym until early this morning, but . . .” Chihiro’s bottom lip began to quiver as the image of her beloved big brother’s body lying in the physics prep room filled her thoughts. “K, Kiyotaka died and . . . we haven’t seen him . . . and then Yamada died and now I think one of those monsters got Sayaka, too . . .”

                “Wait – you haven’t seen Ishimaru-san?” asked Mukuro.

                “N, no, he never showed up . . . we don’t know if he came back or if the wolf monster . . .”

                Mukuro seemed to be shaking in place. “I . . . I can confirm he came back.”

                “What?”

                “I ran into him . . . his ghost . . . this morning,” said Mukuro. “He was pretty shaken . . . I don’t think he’d been dead for very long . . . though definitely himself and not . . . whatever the hell that ‘Ishida’ business was . . . but I told him the rest of you were probably on the first floor.” She closed her eyes. “Did he really not go to you all?”

                Chihiro shook her head. Now she was really scared for him. “K-“

                Their conversation was halted by the sound of screaming from one of the upper floors. The voice was male, and horribly familiar. Chihiro got to her feet and began to run for the fourth floor landing. “ _TAKA! TAKA!”_ she screamed. She could barely hear Mukuro yelling behind her to wait, but Chihiro didn’t care.

                Someone was _hurting_ her big brother! She had to _do_ something!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DING DANG DING DONG!
> 
> So fun story: This chapter was at least started with a fucked up computer screen! I went to a convention and brought my laptop with me, thinking I could work on this story at night in the hotel, but lo and behold it took a nasty hit and terrible things happened. I’ve since gotten a new one that I have mixed feelings on (it has a touch screen which is kinda cool but the touchpad on the actual keyboard is finicky, which is annoying).
> 
> So while I know what happened to Ishimaru (and it’s probably not impossible to figure out for yourselves), I’m still trying to figure out how this is going to be explained in the story. Luckily I have time – this story ends right around the same time the first game ends so we’re probably a few chapters shy of the halfway point I’m GUESSING? I’ve got time to figure out how to do it without an exposition dump. 
> 
> Oh, my progress on the game: I have finished the main story, maxed out everyone’s free time events, and I’m working on maxing out everyone in School Mode to get their School Mode endings. I have not gotten Dangan Ronpa 2 yet – I’m waiting for it to go on sale on the PSN because like a MONTH after I got the first game it was suddenly available for half off on PSN and I was a little bit bullshit over that. I am watching NicoB’s Let’s Play (c’mon Nico, where the hell is Part 10, I NEED IT!!!) of the second game, as his LP of the first game is what made me fall in love with the franchise in the first place.
> 
> And yeah I’m going to be on the hunt for information on Another Episode in the coming days, too. 
> 
> Song Choice: “How Come You’re Not Here?” by P!nk. So this song was almost always going to be in the story from the point I decided Ishimaru was going to disappear for a little (although the reason why has changed – I’ll probably post those chapters as a “deleted scenes” feature after this story is done). But yeah, it’s P!nk, her stuf is great, what else can I say about it?
> 
> BTW shout out to anyone who’s been hunting down the songs and playing them while reading the chapters. At least one of you has admitted to doing so on AO3 but if any my quieter readers are doing the same, you guys are awesome ;) 
> 
> Dixxy


	10. 6 Underground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the aftermath of the third execution, Leon, Mondo, Hifumi, and Celes are interupted on their way to the elevator.

Haunted

By Dixxy Mouri

Chapter Nine: 6 Underground

 

                The tinder was lit, and the flames began to crawl and grow and crackle.

                Celes held her hands clasped tightly before her, her grip so strong that she drew blood. She barely noticed, because it didn’t matter. What were a few cuts and scrapes compared to the rapidly growing inferno surrounding her? She was going to be burned alive anyways, probably so severely that such minor injuries couldn’t possibly be found on her corpse.

                She clenched her eyes shut. _Corpse_.

                _It’s fine. I’m okay with this._

                Yes, yes she wasn’t afraid. This was all right. All she had to do was keep telling herself that.

                Images of Ishimaru and Yamada’s dead bodies flashed before her eyes. She swallowed. What did it matter? The prefect was functionally dead after the stupid biker was killed and the otaku wasn’t the type who would have survived anyways. If it hadn’t been her, it would have been someone else who took them out. In some ways, she supposed, she’d saved one of the survivors from execution, hadn’t she? Yes, yes she had – if one of them went to the trouble of killing whichever one she hadn’t killed, then they, too, would be facing death.

                Not that she was afraid.

                She couldn’t see the survivors through the smoke, and she held back a cough. She recalled a lesson she’d learned in school or from a book she’d read that it wasn’t the flames that killed those who were burned at the stake, but the inhalation from the smoke that did it. Indeed, it seemed like it was the smoke that drew the most concern whenever children were taught fire safety.

                _See? I’m not going to be burned alive. I’ll pass out from the smoke before that. That’s good._

                Beyond the flames, she could see the seven surviving students on the other side of the chain link. Just a few hours earlier there had been ten of them, herself included. Indeed, this was because of her actions – she’d tricked Yamada into murdered Ishimaru before killing the dork herself. And somehow, the absence of those two were tying a knot in her stomach.

                Celes recalled Ishimaru’s disposition before the second trial, when he did his best to keep morale up. He was dedicated to trying to rally them together by trying to organize those breakfast meetings everyday – that was what he could do to try and keep everyone else alive. He’d been stern with her when she was late to breakfast, but never unkind. Awkward, certainly, but earnest and respectful all the same.

                Yamada had been something of the other side of the coin. He was just as awkward and just as genuine, but . . . well a bit of a pervert. She didn’t say anything to the other girls but she’d spotted him spying on them during their communal bath (along with Hagakure and, strangely enough, Naegi – funny, she wouldn’t have pinned him for the type to do that). But he, too, was sincere with her and clearly wanted her to be happy.

                Both of them were gone now.

                The heat was getting intense now, and Celes briefly wished she wasn’t wearing as many layers as she was. That might make this a little more bearable, even if it meant her skin wasn’t protected from the fire, and her skin _was_ rather delicate. No, no, now that she thought about it this was best. If she must burn and die in these flames, it was better to die as she was now.

                But it was getting unbearably hot.

The flames crackled near her and she let out a tiny gasp. She swallowed the scream trying to claw its way out of her throat. She wasn’t scared. She wasn’t afraid. She wasn’t scared. She wasn’t afraid. She wasn’t scared she wasn’t afraid she wasn’t scared she wasn’t afraid she wasn’t scared she wasn’t afraidshewasntscaredshewasntafraidshewasntscaredshewasntafraidshe-

                Celes told herself the liquid running down her cheeks was sweat from the heat of the flames.

                 Another burst of flame erupted near her – this one scorched her left hair extension, but it didn’t ignite. Desperately, she tried to focus on that thought exercise, tried to stay curious about why it hadn’t spiraled up and up until it reached her head and set her aflame, but this was the moment that the lie broke down.

                She’d killed two good people.

                And she was _terrified._

                Celes could feel her heart racing as the flames grew closer, and then it skipped a beat when she heard the sound of a siren in the distance. It had been at least two weeks now – surely the police must be closer to finding them and getting them out now? Yes, that was right. There was no way that fifteen students selected to attend Hope’s Peak Academy going missing wouldn’t launch a massive search effort. The school, the _real_ Hope’s Peak Academy, would never allow it.

                She wept more openly. True, she was going to be arrested for what she’d done, but considering the circumstances they’d probably go easy on her. If she got a good enough lawyer she might even be able to get off completely. The game they were being forced to play wasn’t _fair_. Even if she was a gambler and knew the odds usually weren’t in her favor . . . this felt different. This felt wrong.

                She realized the siren wasn’t a police car. It was a fire truck, and it was racing towards her.

                Time slowed down as the fire truck was suddenly airborne. It flew towards her in slow motion, and all she could see was the blinding white of its headlights. She tried to back away but she hit the pole and she realized this was truly the end. The flames roared again, and one of her sleeves ignited. It hurt, and she could hear her skin bubble and cook as the fire raced up her arm, but she was too mesmerized by the truck to register the pain.

                Celes opened her mouth to let out of a scream.

                For a few moments, she could feel her body being crushed and broken by the firetruck as it slammed into her, knocking her off her feet and threatening to squash her into the ground like a rotten fruit under the hoof of a pig. And for those few moments it was excruciating. It was entirely too hot, it hurt too much, she just wanted it to stop and . . .

                She could feel something icy cold on her arms.

                “ _We gotta go now!!!_ ”

                Celes felt herself being yanked and pushed to the right, and for a moment she thought she was saved. She felt relief, but everything else still felt . . . oddly off. It wasn’t until she caught a glimpse of the black and gold coat worn by one of her rescuers and the shock of ruby red hair adorned by the other than she realized something was amiss.

                She’d _watched_ Kuwata and Oowada die, so how did . . .

                The three of them tumbled forward, away from the fire truck, but Celes still managed to catch a glimpse of her corpse being crushed by the vehicle. That was when she understood what had happened, and how it was possible for the previously convicted killers before her had been able to come to her rescue. She tried to swallow, but it all felt very artificial. She could feel herself begin to panic, but she felt no heart palpitations or hurried breathing.

                She was dead.

                And then she remembered.

                And then she started to scream.

 

                It had taken a few minutes but, finally, the pain was starting to subside. It still hurt, but he was able to stop screaming for now, at least. Kiyotaka still didn’t want to move, preferring to stay curled up as it somehow felt like it was curbing the throbbing, burning, stabbing pains – it probably wasn’t, but at least he FELT better. He wasn’t even sure where he’d been brought since that . . . ritual . . . in the dojo occurred.

                Kiyotaka looked around – it looked kind of like the biology lab but something was different. For one, it was so cold that he could see the air swirling around him. Additionally, it had been renovated somehow – the room felt smaller and one of the walls had a series of sixteen panels on it, five of which had blue lights on them. Then again, if memory served him correctly, several rooms in the school were, well, different. Probably the work of whoever was doing this to them.

                The sounds of whimpering weren’t too far away. Kiyotaka opened his eyes and saw Maizono not far from his position, her face wet with the gelatinous substance that was their tears. Their eyes met for a moment. “Ishimaru-kun,” she whispered. She sniffled, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. “I’m so sorry we weren’t there for you when you . . .”

                Kiyotaka didn’t understand at first, and then realized that she was referring to his death several hours earlier. He struggled to put on a smile for her and shook his head. “Please, how could you have known what Yamada-kun was going to do to me?” he said. He found the strength to prop himself up on the heels of his palms and made a move to get closer to her. He wasn’t _sur_ e what he was supposed to do here, but aside from his odd encounter with Ikusaba he hadn’t seen any of his classmates, living or dead, since Yamada killed him. Maizono regarded him with a tired gaze and forced herself into a sitting position as well.

                “I’m sorry, but I don’t know where to start,” she said. She clenched her eyes shut as she clutched the fabric of her skirt. “A lot has happened since I died, though the past several hours have been unusually chaotic.” She paused for a moment, trying to collect her thoughts. “Did you at least get your memories back, too?”

                That was a relief. If everyone who died had gotten their memories back, then . . . actually he wasn’t sure what that meant. It might’ve made things worse. “Yeah, I did,” he said. Kiyotaka gripped his knees. “I think part of me still remembered Kyoudai and Chihiro, and I think that’s why I . . .” He didn’t finish that thought. He wasn’t sure it mattered anymore, and he didn’t want to think about it. He really didn’t remember a whole lot between the time Mondo was executed and Yamada attacked him. “Are they . . .”

                “Ghosts?” asked Maizono. She nodded and tried to smile. “Chihiro pretty much forgave him immediately, though I’m not sure Mondo’s forgiven himself yet. Kirigiri was right – he was really concerned about trying to keep her secret for her.” She lowered her head. “Leon and I were trying to figure out if we could stop another killing from . . . this side, and we heard Mondo screaming for Chihiro to wake up . . . begging her not to be dead . . .”

                “Please, no more,” said Kiyotaka, clutching his head in his hands. He couldn’t bear to think about it again. What if he . . . lost himself . . . all over again? He felt a cold hand on his shoulder and saw Maizono looking at him in concern. “I’m sorry . . . I haven’t been myself since it happened. I don’t even remember much after seeing Alter Ego. I should have kept it together better, but-”

                “No one blames you for what happened,” said Maizono. “Living or dead.”

                _No one? Are you sure?_ “I’m not sure that applies to Yamada-san,” Kiyotaka grumbled

                Maizono’s face melted into one of uncertainty. “Um . . . about that . . .”

                “Yes?”

                “Yamada wasn’t behind your death . . . mostly.”

                _What in the world does that mean?_ Kiyotaka didn’t like the look on Maizono’s face. Yamada wasn’t the one behind his death? But he’d been the one to lure him to the physics lab before he’d . . . “Maizono-san, I don’t understand. Yamada was the one who killed me – he hit me in the head with a hammer, yelling about . . .” His eyes widened in realization. “Celes.”

 

                Yamada had been right. Junko Enoshima was the person responsible . . . _for everything_.

                She’d ended the world with the World's Most Despair Inducing Incident.

                She’d killed Headmaster Kirigiri and removed their memories.

                She forced her sister to give up her identity to act as her eyes and ears only to betray her in the end.

                She’d made them kill each other.

                It was a strange sort of relief – Chihiro desperately didn’t want to blame Mondo for her death, and now she had someone else to be angry with. After all, none of this would have happened if Junko hadn’t done what she did. But that didn’t change that all of the living students were still at her mercy, and the dead students were . . . dead.

                Including her own twin sister.

                Chihiro didn’t necessarily think she was the best at reading people (out of her preferred trio of friends Mondo was probably the best and poor Kiyotaka was . . . although he really did try but . . . he was awful at it) but she could tell that Mukuro was a mess. She was hiding it well, and anyone who didn’t know her wouldn’t have been able to see it. She was probably coming to terms with Junko’s betrayal and, well, maybe Sayaka had been right about her after all.

                Maybe she could be their ally.

                “If I had known he was going to get attacked, I wouldn’t have let Ishimaru-san alone.”

                Chihiro turned to look at Mukuro. She wasn’t looking at her, but she looked far too contemplative to not be feeling something for whatever had happened to him and Sayaka. What that was they still didn’t know – the sound of Kiyotaka’s screams were coming from a higher floor, probably the fifth floor, and were shortly followed by Sayaka’s wails. But with no way of reaching the upper floors, there wasn’t anything they could do.

                Of course it didn’t sit well with Chihiro – she was very close to Kiyotaka, naturally, and she considered herself to be pretty good friends with Sayaka as well, but Mukuro was beside herself. She’d told Chihiro about her encounter with Kiyotaka. She’d had no idea he’d been killed and crashed into his outside the physics lab – not knowing who he was and running on old soldiering instincts she pinned him to the ground. They had a brief conversation before she bolted, unwittingly leaving him at the mercy of whatever monsters were roaming the halls of the school.

                “Do you hate me?” asked Mukuro.

                “I . . . I don’t know,” said Chihiro. “I, I think I should but . . . I don’t know.”

                Mukuro lowered her eyes. “That instinct of yours is probably right. You should follow it.”

                Chihiro frowned. Truth be told, even though she basically considered all of her classmates friends, this might have been the first time she’d been alone with the soldier. Actually, it may have been the first time they’d interacted this much at all. Junko often spoke for both of the sisters, with Mukuro just nodding along in the background. As such, Chihiro wasn’t sure how much she actually _knew_ her companion at all.

                “Probably, b, but . . . you saved me.”

                “From a ghost that wouldn’t have been able to touch you if you weren’t dead.”

                “B, but you’re dead, too!” said Chihiro. She clenched her fists. “If you were really in on this whole . . . thing . . . then why are you dead, too?” Mukuro looked at her in surprise, and the programmer swallowed her fear and uncertainty. “Junko’s your sister, isn’t she? Why did she kill you like that? That don’t make any-“

                “-that’s because you’re trying to apply logic to her. Junko doesn’t function according to other people’s logic. All she cares about is despair – causing despair, feeling despair, spreading despair . . . you guys feel like the world ended, but to Junko? It was like the world was just beginning.” She sighed, and for a moment it seemed like she might go on again but then she stopped in the middle of the hallway. “Huh.”

                Chihiro watched as Mukuro bent down to pick something up off the floor. “W, what’s that?”

                “A watch,” said Mukuro, holding it by the strap. “It’s like us.”

                Chihiro looked at it closer and also started crying again. “It, it’s Taka’s,” she said.

                “Who?” Mukuro mulled it over for a second. “Oh, I see. Ishimaru-san.”

                “Yeah. It’s not a nickname he uses a lot. You know how he can be with formalities.”

                “Didn’t know he had a nickname, never mind that he was picky with how he used it,” she said. “But enough about that - how can you tell it’s his? I know you were close to him but it’s still a pretty generic watch . . . broken, but generic,” said Mukuro. “Is it because it’s broken? But why would a guy like Ishimaru-san wear a broken watch?”

                “I think Yamada broke it when . . .” Chihiro swallowed and pointed at the broken watch face. “Naegi noticed it was broken during the investigation, and it’s stuck around the time he . . . went to the physics lab.” She closed her eyes and shuffled her feet. “As far as it being generic . . . it’s just what he likes to buy.” While that wasn’t a complete lie, as Chihiro figured that this wouldn’t have been far off from what he would have gotten for himself if money wasn’t an issue (simple and straight to the point without any extra bells and whistles), his family’s financial woes were probably a factor in his decision.

                Mukuro handed the watch to her. “Take it for now.”

                “Huh?”

                “Well you’re one of his best friends, right? He’d probably want you to have it over me.”

                Chihiro nodded and took it. “Thank you.” She slipped it into his pocket and patted it. “I know it’s broken, but I’ll keep it safe for him.” She paused. “Although . . . what was it doing in the middle of the hallway? A watch wouldn’t come off that easy during a struggle or something and I don’t know why he’d just leave it in the middle of the floor like that.”

                Mukuro thought it over. “Unless he was leaving us a message.”

                “Huh?”

                “It’s a warning, about the monsters.”

                Chihiro would have felt her blood go cold if she wasn’t already freezing to the touch. “Huh!?”

                “As far as we know I’m the only one who’s seen him since Yamada killed him, and I didn’t know about the monsters until I ran into you. Considering he hasn’t found the rest of you yet that means one of them found him, and he was probably trying to warn you about the danger by leaving something behind,” said Mukuro.

                “Because he probably didn’t have much to work with,” said Chihiro.

                “Probably, though I’m not sure how any of us would have figured it out if we didn’t already know about these damn things,” said Mukuro. “Either way, the trial should be over soon – we need to at least get you back to the rest of the group. I’ll wait with you until the elevator returns with the others – once I’ve confirmed you’re with them I’ll head out to see what I can do about them, maybe see if I can find a way to rescue Maizono and Ishimaru.” She swallowed, and Chihiro couldn’t help but think that Mukuro was also questioning if they were still able to be rescued.

                “What? Why?”

                “Hmm? So you can get back to the others safely?”

                “No, I mean why are you leaving?”  
                Mukuro lowered her eyes, putting a hand gently on Chihiro’s back and she ushered her towards the stairs. “These monsters are dangerous, and unless Sakura dies I’m the only one who’s got a fighting chance against them. The rest of you need to keep yourselves safe while I deal with them,” said Mukuro. She lowered her eyes. “It’s the least I should do.”

                “Mukuro, you could get hurt!” Chihiro insisted.

                “More than you guys have been hurt?” she responded.

                Chihiro paused, understanding what Mukuro was getting at. “But you saved me, didn’t you?”

                Mukuro grew ominously quiet.

 

                Two years of life experience came flooding back all at once like a burst dam, filling her thoughts with laughter, tears, hope, and despair. She’d already been at Hope’s Peak for two years, one of them as a student and the other as a survivor of the World's Most Despair Inducing Incident. The world was over. There was nothing for her to return to outside anymore – just despair.

                She’d killed two people to leave the only safe place she knew.

                She’d killed two people for money that meant nothing anymore.

                She’d killed _two people_ who had been _amongst her dearest friends_.

                One of them was her _best friend_.

                Celes kept screaming.

                “Pull yourself together!”

                Celes opened her eyes, sniffling as she saw Kuwata and Oowada trying to calm her down. She swallowed. She remembered how in love Kuwata and Maizono had been. She remembered how close Oowada had been to both Fujisaki and Ishimaru. Something told her that they, too, must have remembered the truth of their situation, and not seeing either of their victims made her feel even more numb than her ghostly form already felt.

                _Does that mean Ishimaru and Hifumi are . . ._

Celes clenched her eyes shut as she felt one of them – probably Oowada – pick her up and begin carrying her somewhere. She caught a glimpse of the wreckage her body lay crushed under, devoid of life and everything that made her, well,her. “I messed up,” she sobbed softly into his shoulder.

                “We know,” said Kuwata. “We all did.”

                “But right now we need to get back to the elevator before it leaves without us,” said Oowada. The boys started to usher her towards the chain link fence where the remaining students were staring at the scene of her execution with melancholy. She swallowed. This was . . . different from the first two executions. While the reaction to Oowada’s death had been overshadowed by Ishimaru’s breakdown, everyone had been completely shocked and horrified by Kuwata’s brutal stoning. This time, while Celes couldn’t say that they looked happy by any stretch of the imagination, the abject horror was gone.

                _They’re growing numb to the situation_ , she realized.

                “M, Master Celes L, Ludenberg . . .”

                Celes could have sworn she could taste ash at the sight of Hifumi, and she choked a little. He’d never looked at her that way before, but how could he? After what she’d done to him, how she’d used him? Even if she hadn’t killed him, she’d made him kill Ishimaru (which . . . where was he?). She looked away and clenched her eyes shut.

                Hifumi probably hated her now.

                Celes was something of an odd duck – while she could usually read people very well (something that basically came second nature to her as the Ultimate Gambler), she tended to have fewer friends than her peers both in school and the underground gambling scene. Certainly there were people she would spend time with discussing the finer points of Lolita fashion or various teachers who taught her the rules of the many games she’d mastered, but no one that she truly felt a connection to.

                Then came the day she got her acceptance letter to Hope’s Peak Academy, and she wasn’t sure what to do except for the obvious – take the sure bet. Oh certainly the riskier gambles were more exciting and a little more fun, but it was foolish to turn down a good hand and this acceptance letter was the best she’d been dealt (and she’d received no less than five royal flushes, twice in the trump suit, without the need to draw more cards during her lifetime). Boring, but it was the chance of a lifetime and all that other boring greeting card nonsense.

                Celes thought little of most of her classmates upon first meeting them, mostly because she assumed they were easy to read and there wasn’t much for her to discover. She could read them all like books. She held some interest in Byakuya Togami, the only other student who understood high risk situations involving money (which were both similar and dissimilar to her own misadventures) but that was about it. Not that it mattered, she reminded herself – Hope’s Peak Academy was a means to an end, all she needed to do was tolerate these people until graduation and then they would all run off to be successful or whatever. Even Togami felt a bit easy to read – he was rich, he was smart, he was successful, end of story.

                Then her classmates started to surprise her. Kuwata, who clearly had an affinity for a punk aesthetic, made a big show of professing his love to Maizono, the pop starlet, in the middle of class. Celes was positive that was a match that wouldn’t work, but it wasn’t long before they were giving each other googly eyes in the halls and playing footsie under the table at lunch. Then there was the incident with that awful brute of a gym teacher that led to the strange trio that was Oowada, Ishimaru, and Fujisaki. Asahina and Oogami began dating around this time as well, though she wasn’t quite sure when that started.

                “ _It would seem our classmates are developing very peculiar friendships and romances,_ ” Togami had quipped one afternoon over tea.

                “ _It would appear that way,_ ” she’d responded as she lifted her cup to her lips. She took a sip and grinned.

                “ _At this rate I’d be unsurprised to see you bond with someone unlikely._ ”

                “ _Oh? And who do you suppose it’ll be, the otaku?”_

_“You do look like you stepped out of a maid café.”_

                Celes had scoffed at the idea, knowing that they was referring to Hifumi Yamada, the Ultimate Doujinshi Artist. He was, perhaps, the easiest to read at all. A lonely pervert more interested in his video games and anime, he’d probably spend more time with his specialty body pillows than he ever would with an actual woman. Low class to say the least.

                And then one day she found a lonely sketchbook on academy grounds. Curious and not feeling any particular need to respect the privacy of its owner, she began to flip through it. It didn’t take her long to determine this was the work of the Super High School Level Doujinshi Artist based on the number of pages laid out as comics, but what she saw fascinated her.

                It wasn’t the hormone driven sex-romp she’d imagined all of his work to be (though she later confirmed that Hifumi had penned a few of those as well). Instead it was an original story about a lonely girl whose father kept her and her younger sister from ever leaving their house and the bond they shared. It was a small, intimate story about the young woman attempting to be mother, sister, and friend to her sister, but longing for a life of her own, too.

                It was a compulsive read, and once Hifumi found her reading it over her afternoon tea, she let him know it was good. She hesitated at first, unsure if she wanted to attract his attention, but by the end of the afternoon she was helping him hammer out some of the finer details of the story and got him through a particularly bad case of writer’s block that had been thrown his way.

                Somehow, Hifumi had become her best friend, and it occurred to Celes she’d never had one before. She’d even allowed him to call her by her real name, albeit when it was just the two of them. They sometimes got odd stares if they went out into town for one errand or another together with most assuming they were some sort of romantic or sexual couple (one particular fool assumed Hifumi had hired her for her “services” – unfortunately for him, Mondo happened to be nearby on an unrelated errand and chose to come to their mutual defense which led to a night in the hospital for the fool and a night at the police station for the biker) but their relationship was strictly platonic. Certainly they had many intimate and personal discussions, but that was that. Hifumi wasn’t comfortable approaching what he called “3D” women and hid behind his ruse that he preferred “2D” woman. Celes was simply uninterested in a relationship with anyone at that moment in her life.

                But it wasn’t just Hifumi that she bonded with – overtime, everyone in their homeroom class started to surprise her in one way or another. The hardened soldier, Mukuro Ikusaba (speaking of whom, where the hell had she been during this mess?) had taken to dance lessons with Sayaka Maizono like a duck takes to water until her surprisingly cruel and controlling twin sister, the fashion model Junko Enoshima, had put an end to it. The infamous bike gang leader had a soft spot for animals and had been caught housing rescues on multiple occasions. Even the ultimate lucky student, who had seemed to be about as extraordinary as stale toast, had a certain optimism about him that was compelling and acted as the anchor of their entire social group. Even Togami eventually revealed that he hadn’t simply been born with a silver spoon in his mouth and needed to earn his position as the heir to his family’s fortune and position.

                Then the world ended with the World's Most Despair Inducing Incident, and only a relatively small number of students from Hope’s Peak Academy had survived the tragedy within the walls of the school. Before long they had all agreed to possibly spend the rest of their lives in the school while they waited out the disaster outside. Most of them weren’t thriving in that environment, herself included. It was horribly depressing, but it was better than outside.

                Until, somehow, they’d all lost their memories and started killing each to escape into despair.

                “Hifumi,” was all she could manage to say.

                Kuwata and Oowada exchanged a look before the ballplayer patted her shoulder. “We’ve got a lot to fill you in on,” he said calmly, “but we need to get back to the elevator. It won’t wait for us and I don’t know about you but I don’t want to get stuck down here.” Celes stared at him in confusion, still reeling from her suddenly returning memories as the boys ushered her out of the execution area, presumably towards the elevator.

                “Is it just . . . us?” asked Celes.

                “What do you mean?” asked Oowada.

                “People who’ve . . . dirtied their hands,” she said, trying to soften the blow.

                “No,” said Kuwata. “At least Sayaka and Chihiro are upstairs – they’re trying to find Kiyotaka.”

                “What about Junko?” asked Celes. “Wasn’t she killed in the gymnasium?”

                “Actually we’re pretty sure that was Mukuro,” said Oowada.

                Celes was stunned. “Why would Mukuro be dressed like her sister?” she asked.

                Hifumi closed his eyes. “Because we’re pretty sure Junko is behind the killing game.”

                Celes stopped in her tracks and stared at the boys in surprise. “Really?”

                Kuwata looked at her in exasperation. “That’s it? That’s your reaction?”

                “Well what would you like me to say?”  
                “I don’t know, maybe ‘I don’t believe this’ or ‘that can’t be true’ or . . . something else?”

                Celes closed her eyes. “Well she had a tendency to be rather crude and unpleasant.”

                Kuwata sighed, throwing his hands up in defeat. “Whatever. It doesn’t matter now. Point is, most of us have some pretty fuzzy memories leading up to whatever it was that took our memories. Hifumi, for whatever reason, got them all back,” said Oowada. “Our theory is that the hit on his head, since it didn’t kill him instantly, undid whatever they did to us. Right now we can’t confirm it, but that’s not the most pressing issue on hand – right now we need to get out of here and back up to the school.”

                Celes wasn’t sure what could possibly warrant the rush when Oowada interrupted. “We split up after Yamada died because we haven’t see Kyoudai’s ghost yet. What’s scaring us is that after the elevator doors closed we heard the girls scream and . . . we couldn’t get to them.” He closed his eyes. “There’s this wolf . . . thing . . . that chased us around the school last night. We don’t know what it is but we weren’t able to get to them.”

                Now _that_ was troubling, and Celes felt herself go even colder. “There’s a monster chasing us?”

                “I haven’t seen it but when we heard the girls scream . . .” Hifumi shuddered.

                Kuwata started to urge their group forward again in agitation. “Which is why we need to get upstairs and see if they’re all right. If anything else happens to them I don’t know what I’ll-” he said before stopping mid-sentence and looking ahead in horror, eyes wide and mouth agape. “Oh, you’ve got to be shitting me!”

                Celes gasped when she saw their path to the elevator was blocked by a pair of tall, person-shaped creatures with the same two-toned pallet as Monokuma. They had blank, vague expressions on their faces and were simply standing there as it waiting for something. By the looks of horror and Kuwata and Oowada’s faces, they clearly assumed it was them.

                Hifumi shrieked. “Eyaahhhh! We aren’t at a high enough level to fight those!”

                “ _This isn’t a video game!_ ” Leon shouted angrily.

                “ _WELL MAYBE IT’S A TABLETOP ROLEPLAYING GAME!_ ” Hifumi yelled back.

                “ _Which one of you morons rolled the critical fumble?!_ ” Celes screamed.

                “There’s MORE of these things!?” Oowada asked in shock.

                The two creatures began to lumber towards them, arms extended as their mouths widened into grins. A variety of gasps erupted from the ghosts as they began to back away, realizing that getting on the elevator was suddenly, tragically, not an option. “What the hell are we supposed to do?!” Kuwata stammered.

                “You two have been dead longer, you tell us!” said Hifumi.

                “We spent last night in the gym ‘cause the wolf couldn’t follow us there!” Oowada countered.

                The mysterious creatures began to close in on them as the living students began to board the elevator. Celes’ eyes widened. If they wanted to get away from these things they _needed_ to get back to the upper floors of schools as there were more places to run and hide. That would not be the case down here in the trial room and execution chamber.

                Kuwata made the first move and tried to dodge to the right, but the closest creature was impossibly fast and blocked his way. It howled, the force of its bellow knocking the athlete off his feet. He yelped, backtracking as fast as he could in this position. He was terrified, looking more frightened than he had when Monokuma dragged him to his death a little over a week earlier.

                “LEON!” Mondo yelled, rushing to the ballplayer’s aide.

                Moments later, obviously terrified by what was going on around them, Hifumi panicked and tried to run between the monsters, only to be intercepted by the other creature. He froze in fear, a barely audible squeak emitting from the back of his throat as he stared at the creature. The monster yowled and struck him, sending him reeling backwards.

                Celes saw red. _No one_ hurt her Hifumi.

                The gambler placed herself between the creature and her best friend, arms spread to defend him as best as she could. “ _Get the fuck away from my friend, you monster!_ ” The mysterious being paused for a moment before howling and lunging forward. Celes gasped – in her panic she hadn’t thought that far ahead.

                As it turned out, she didn’t need to.

                The moment the creature laid a hand on her it began to howl in pain, stepping back from her and clutching its hand on the white side of its body . . . only the palm of its hand was coal black. But unlike its other hand, which looked smooth and sleek, this hand was charred and bubbling, as if it hand been severely burned. Dumbfounded, Celes lowered her arms as the creature hobbled away, cradling the injured appendage. “Wh, what?” she asked. She looked herself over – she didn’t understand how she’d hurt it. “B, but how did I-?”

                BANG!

                There was a loud cracking sound over by Kuwata and Oowada. The creature who had tried to attack the ballplayer was lying flat on its back. It wasn’t moving, a glossy look in its eyes as wisps of charcoal black smoke emitted from its gaping mouth. Kuwata’s gaze was darting back and forth between the monster and the biker, who was also on the ground. He was shaking, looking at his hands in horror.

                “Mondo! Why the fuck didn’t you do that earlier?!” asked Kuwata.

                “I didn’t . . . I don’t . . . I don’t know what the fuck happened!” he said. He looked like he was on the verge of tears. “I, I just tried to push it away a, and there was a flash and a bang and . . . it dropped! It just fucking dropped like deadweight! I have no fucking idea what happened! What the fuck, what the _fuck?!_ ”

                “A flash and a bang?” Celes asked, raising her hand to her chin in thought. Hifumi approached her from the side, still shaken from his own close encounter before putting a hand on her shoulder – she shuddered from the cold and considered sending him a warning glare. “But that doesn’t . . . hey, wait a second.” Hifumi was looking her up and down in confusion. “You . . . you’re _warm_.”

                Celes raised an eyebrow in curiosity at Hifumi before feeling another cold as ice hand on her other shoulder. Kuwata had gotten to his feet and was staring at her in confusion. “Yamada’s right – you’re warm to the touch.” He pulled his hand off her shoulder. “Literally everyone else has been completely ice cold.” He looked over to Oowada. “And . . . I have absolutely no idea what Mondo did.”

                Oowada struggled to his feet, still shaking. Celes noticed his pompadour had come undone a little – not much, but there were severing pieces sticking out in multiple directions, kind of like when American cartoons were struck by lightning. “It kind of felt like that thing when you drag your feet across the carpet, you know? And then you poke someone and it shocks them and they’re like ‘dude what the fuck?’ except it was  . . . way, way stronger.”

                Kuwata swallowed. “What the hell is going on _now_?”

                “I don’t – EYAHHH! THE ELEVATOR!”              

 

                Mukuro tightened her grip on the hem of her skirt as the sounds of the elevator creaking to life could be heard. She looked at Chihiro, who was clasping her hands in front of her and wringing them nervously. “You doing okay there?” she asked. She second guessed herself. “I mean, uh, aside from being dead.”

                “I’m just . . . nervous is all,” she said. “I don’t want Celes to be dead but . . . I don’t want everyone else to be dead, either. And if she’s dead that means seven of us are still alive, but if she’s alive then she’s the only one left and . . . I don’t know what I’m supposed to think or feel! Am I a bad person for hoping she died?”

                “Um . . . I’m not sure I’m the right person to be asking that question.”

                Chihiro looked away. “O, oh,” she said.

                Minutes passed in silence before the elevator arrived with a loud clunking noise. Chihiro’s posture straightened as Naegi and the living students began to exit the elevator. She breathed a sigh of relief as she turned to Mukuro. “If Naegi and the others can’t see us that means they’re still alive,” she said. She whimpered. “B, but Celes is . . .”

                Mukuro’s eyes darted to the back of the elevator. “Not here.”

                “What?”

                “The others . . . they’re . . . not here.”

                Once the last surviving student had left the elevator, Mukuro and Chihiro realized they were alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DING DANG DING DONG! Author’s Announcements!
> 
> The last several months have been . . . challenging. 2014 was not a good year for me and I’m really, really happy to see it go. Hey, 2015 pretty much started with me finding out that Danganronpa: The Animation is finally getting a home video release in North America so there’s that.
> 
> Song Choice: “6 Underground” by the Sneaker Pimps. Eh, my current beta (hunter of comedy) and I agreed on it. We felt it fit Celes well.
> 
> -Dixxy


	11. The Real Folk Blues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leon, Mondo, Hifumi, and Celes discover just how massive the underground courthouse really is. Kiyotaka and Sayaka make a bold move. Mukuro and Chihiro bear witness to one of the living student standing up to Monokuma.

Haunted

By Dixxy Mouri

Chapter Ten: The Real Folk Blues

 

                “We . . . we missed the elevator . . .” Leon said in disbelief. If something bad happened to Sayaka and Chihiro, they had no way of helping them . . . even if it looked like, somehow, Mondo and Celes somehow . . . _could_. . . they couldn’t get to them. All it amounted to was even more questions and an overwhelming urge to start crying and never stopping.

                The four of them and the unconscious body of the monster Mondo had hurt were alone in the execution chamber, staring at the place where the elevator should have been. Wordlessly, Hifumi helped Mondo to his feet – the biker was still visibly shaken by what had transpired. “What exactly did you do, Master Mondo Oowada?”  
                “I . . . I don’t know,” he answered quietly. Leon winced – he’d only seen Mondo like this once before, and that was the aftermath of Chihiro’s murder. He was too quiet, too nervous, too . . . broken. He was probably worried about Chihiro and Kiyotaka, especially since he couldn’t get to them, but then there was also . . . whatever had just happened a few minutes ago.

                “This . . . seriously hasn’t happened before?” Celes asked incredulously.

                “No, it hasn’t,” said Leon. “When the wolf monster was chasing us around last night all we did was run and hide. There wasn’t any sign that Mondo could do . . . whatever he just did.” He looked at Mondo, who was still trembling and “breathing” heavily while staring at his hands in disbelief. “Dude, are you okay?”

                The biker shot him a glare that might’ve killed him if he wasn’t already dead. “How the fuck am I supposed to be okay!?” Mondo snapped. Leon took a step back, watching his friend carefully. “I . . . I _died_ from electricity and now I . . . do you have any idea how terrifying that is!? How would you like it if you suddenly started vomiting baseballs or something, huh!?”

                Leon had to concede that what Mondo had suggested was scary, but they needed him to calm down. He cautiously approached the other student, placed his hands firmly on his shoulders, and looked him in the eyes. “You’re right. I wouldn’t,” he said slowly and firmly. “We will figure out what’s going on with you and Celes later, okay? Right now, I need you to keep your temper in check so we can figure out how to get out of the trial room and back up to the school to meet up with Chihiro and Sayaka. Okay?”

                Mondo continued to stare at him dumbly for several moments before nodding in agreement. Leon smiled, patting him on the shoulder. He turned to Celes to see if she was going to freak out as well. For the moment she was looking around the trial room in deep thought, probably distracting herself with their more immediate problem. She was probably just as terrified as Mondo, but was doing a better job of keeping that fear in check for the moment. Leon gave Yamada a knowing look, and the artist gave him a subtle nod in understanding. Once they were back up in the school, he would be the one to make sure Celes was truly all right.

                The gambler, still at least pretending she wasn’t bothered by what had just transpired, adjusted her skirt and tapped the side of her face. “There must be some other way out of here,” she said. She took a few steps towards Monokuma’s throne, paused, and turned back to the group. “Leon, can you tell me what you’ve been doing since . . .  your passing?” She cleared her throat. “Like, for the trials and the elevator.”

                Leon paused for a moment to think about what she was asking. “Um . . . Sayaka came down here for the first trial, and then the two of us got back on the elevator as soon as possible.  When Chihiro died we came down here for that trial to bring Mondo back upstairs. After Yamada died we split up because Kiyotaka’s spirit never showed up – Chihiro and Sayaka went to look for him while the three of us came down here for, well, hopefully you.”

                Celes seemed to have mixed feelings about that, which he couldn’t blame her for. “So then you’ve never taken the time to explore down here to see what else is around?” Leon slowly nodded, realizing this was true. It had never occurred to any of them that there might be something worth investigating in the basement.

                “So there might be a way back upstairs?” asked Yamada.

                The gambler looked around the trial room, which was now bathed in darkness. Her eyes settled on the curtain behind Monokuma’s throne. “If there is one, we should look for it. If we don’t, our only other option is to wait for our classmates to make another mistake, and that’s assuming the elevator would even come here.”

                Mondo crossed his arms. “What do you mean?”  
                “Have you noticed that this courtroom is different from the last two?” she asked. “The décor is different, and probably not by coincidence there’s a celestial motif – perhaps a subtle hint that I was the guilty party. While it’s possible Junko has just done some redecorating between cases, which might make sense considering she _is_ the Super High School Level Fashionista, I doubt she’d be able to do as much with the execution grounds. I don’t see any signs of Leon or Mondo’s executions leftover, do you?”

                “So?” asked Leon.

                “Junko wouldn’t have a way of constructing and breaking down the executions ahead of time, especially since she can’t possibly predict the rate at which we’d kill each other or who would kill who, but she already had them planned out for us in advance,” said Yamada. He scratched his chin. “You’re suggesting that there are multiple floors in the courthouse – one for each of us in the event we were the guilty party.”

                “If they aren’t, that means there must be a way to get back to wherever that rat bitch is hiding.”

                Mondo grunted. “And she’s not even the one who dated her.”

                “I bet if we looked around this floor we’d also probably see some sort of group execution chamber as well, unless there’s a way to convert each individual execution into . . . well, a bigger death trap,” said Celes. “The bear has always said if we failed to convict the killer in each case everyone else would die. It might not be as . . . elaborate . . . as what she did to Leon, Mondo, and me, but she must have had plans in place if we ever got it wrong.”

                “Probably, but I’m going to vote we don’t actively look for that, regardless of how many floors this place actually is,” said Leon. “I’d rather _not_ see what would have happened to everyone if I’d actually gotten away with . . . what I did.” He closed his eyes. He’d been scared at the time and more than willing to sacrifice what he’d then assumed was a group of strangers to get out of that hell hole, but the truth of matter and his own willingness to do it still bothered him.

                The group began to head towards the curtained area behind Monokuma’s spot in the trial room. It wasn’t much, but there was a pair of double doors leading to a stairwell. Leon checked to see if they could pass through it, confirmed they could, and motioned for everyone to follow. Once they were all through, the ballplayer led them up to the next landing.

                Licking his lips, Leon stepped through this new set of double doors – based on what he saw in front of him it was another back area of a courtroom. “This confirms Celes’ theory about there being multiple trial grounds,” he said. He stepped forward, curiosity getting the better of him. He wanted to see whose courtroom this was.

                Though it was dark, Leon could make out that the walls were white with stone gray pillars and red flags, flags bearing Monokuma’s sinister grin flanking each of the pillars. Five of the stands containing the crossed-out portraits of students stood in their assigned places – himself, “Junko”, Sayaka, Chihiro, and Mondo. Before he could meditate on the matter much longer, Leon heard the other ghosts behind him, all of them looking around in awe.

                “Master Kiyotaka Ishimaru,” Yamada muttered. The others looked at him in question. “We all know he had a passion for politics, right? And was the grandson of a former Prime Minister. This courtroom looks like some sort of official government hall or something, plus it just screams order and rules. It’s gotta be his.”

                Leon closed his eyes. Though Kiyotaka hadn’t met a pleasant fate, he was somewhat relieved the prefect would never set foot in this room. “I don’t like that we each have one of these. I don’t like that there are rooms here for Sayaka or Chihiro or Naegi or any one of our other friends. These rooms shouldn’t even exist. And I don’t like that she’d trying to make fun of us with the décor.”

                “This is so fucked up,” Mondo whispered.

                “Understatement of the century,” Yamada concurred.

                “Is there any reason to confirm his premeditated execution is here as well?” Celes asked.

                Yamada swallowed. “We’d be looking for a car.”

                “A car?” asked Leon.

                “Master Kiyotaka Ishimaru’s execution would have resembled an inaugural parade. He’d be forced to stand on top of a car, waving to a crowd of Monokuma units as if he’d just been elected Prime Minister. Then another unit would have shot him from a distance Golgoi style,” said Yamada. “However, I agree with Master Celes Ludenberg’s assessment that there’s no need to go looking for it. This courtroom will never be used because he’s already . . .” Unsurprisingly, Yamada didn’t want to bring it up.

                “We should probably get going,” Leon said, ushering everyone out of the unused courtroom. All of the talk about the prefect had reminded him that, in addition to getting back to Sayaka and Chihiro, they had to find out where he’d disappeared to and hope that the monsters hadn’t done something to him while he was by himself.

 

                Kiyotaka wasn’t sure what to feel with everything Maizono had told him. Why he’d been murdered and what had happened to his killer had been bad enough, but finding out that Junko Enoshima – his classmate, his friend, someone he’d thought he could trust – had not only been behind the killing game but the World's Most Despair Inducing Incident as well?

                “Then that’s why Mukuro was dressed like her sister . . .” he said in disbelief.

                “Wait – did you run into Mukuro, Ishimaru-san?” Maizono was looking at him with wide eyes.

                Kiyotaka looked up. That was right – she didn’t seem to want to make contact with any of them and had been uncomfortable just running into him. So she probably hadn’t made any sort of contact with Sayaka or the others. “Y, yeah, right after I died.” Kiyotaka relayed everything he could remember about the encounter to Sayaka. “I just . . . I’m sorry, I’m having trouble believing all of this.”

                “Me, too,” said Maizono. “We were supposed to be in here so we’d be safe. Now . . . now only half of us are still alive and . . . I could punch Junko right now! She’s responsible for everything! My dad and my bandmates are all dead because of her! She made me try to kill Leon and . . .” Maizono looked like she wasn’t sure if she wanted to scream or start crying.

                Kiyotaka wasn’t given a chance to respond to that before the door to the bio lab opened. They were both stunned by the action and jumped a little, covering their eyes from the sudden influx of light. A moment later he lowered his hand and felt ill (or at least what passed for “being ill”) at the sight of several Monokuma robots dragging . . . his body. Yamada’s body was dragged in shortly afterwards. “What the . . .?”

                Maizono opened her eyes, then looked at the wall with the panels. “I get it now.” She looked around the bio lab, her eyes landing on the doors on the wall. “This room . . . it’s been converted into a morgue.” She pointed to the lit doors. “See? They’re refrigerators. One for each person who’s died.” She bit her bottom lip. “I’m not sure why Mondo has one all to himself though . . .”

                “Maizono-san . . . please. . .”

                “O, oh,” she stuttered. “But this makes sense now – this is where our bodies are being kept.”

                Kiyotaka swallowed, looking at the open door. During Maizono’s explanation, they’d tried to leave the biolab but had discovered that, for some reason, this wasn’t a door they could walk through. Now that the Monokuma bots had opened the door, however, they had a chance to get out of there. “We should leave while the Monokumas have the door open.”

                “R, right,” said Kiyotaka. He got to his feet and offered a hand to Maizono to help her up as well. She accepted it and got to her feet. It seemed like the Monokumas were struggling with Yamada’s body, but Kiyotaka felt an overwhelming sense of sadness as he watched one of the robots close the refrigerator containining his body, and he realized that was the last time he’d ever see it.

                “Ishimaru-kun . . .” Maizono tugged at the sleeze of his jacket. Kiyotaka nodded and they left the biolab, relieved that they were finally out of what was functionally a morgue. However, once they were out, another question arose. “Now what?”

                Kiyotaka frowned. “We’re still stuck on this floor,” he said, recalling his earlier escape attempts.

                Maizono tapped the side of her face. “Yeah, even though the fourth floor should be opening up we won’t be able to get there – the fifth floor is still sealed off.” She sighed. “But this is raising even more questions. Why can’t we go through the gates but the monsters who look like people can? And why can’t the wolf monster use _any_ doors?”

                “I don’t know about the wolf, but we need to leave before the Monokumas do,” said Kiyotaka.

                The pair quickly made haste, and for the first time Kiyotaka noticed just how long the hallway leading the biolab was, and just how little there was in that hallway. The lack of other classrooms around it felt isolating and lonesome. Most of the anxiety in this hallway before had been a result of a student trying to get to class on time – how many of his fellow students had he barked at over running in the halls? How badly did he want to do just that right now? So strange . . . when had he last felt that kind of conflict within himself? Was he a hypocrite?

                Kiyotaka felt a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from going further. Maizono shook her head, and he realized they were at the end of the hallway. They were near classroom 5-C, and the way to the rest of the floor. “We need to be careful – we don’t want those things to catch us. Right?” She swallowed. “They’ll just bring us back to the biolab.”

                “Right, right,” said Kiyotaka. “But now where? If Naegi and the others managed to convict Celes the fourth floor will be open to them, but this floor is still blocked off – we can’t pass through them without one of those monsters dragging us through, and I don’t think they’re going to help us.” Maizono shook her head in agreement.

                They were quiet for several moments before Maizono’s eyes widened. “Unless . . .”

                “Hmm?”  
                “Well, think about it – how did the Monokumas bring your body here?” asked Maizono. “There must be some way to get back to the lower floors if there’s a way for the bodies to end all the way up here.” Kiyotaka mulled this over and nodded. How were the bodies being transported to the top floor? “But where are they coming from?”

                “The only obvious entrance is the stairwell – should we check there first?”

                “I . . . I guess.”

                “Okay. I normally wouldn’t recommend this, but we’re going to need to run.”

                “. . . Ishimaru-kun this is not the time to be worrying about running in the halls.”

                “Of course I know this isn’t the time to be worrying about running in the halls, that’s why I said I wouldn’t _normally_ recommend this,” he explained matter-of-factly. Maizono sighed heavily, rolling her eyes at him. “If the gate is closed, make a beeline for Classroom 5-A. We’ll re-strategize from there – we’ll need to listen for it opening, maybe if they bring Ludenberg-san’ body.”

                “On three?”

                “One . . . two . . .”

                Taking one last look to check for monsters, the escapees said the last number in unison and broke out into a sprint towards the fifth floor stairwell. They couldn’t hear anyone or anything behind them, but they could hear the pitter patter of several Monokuma robots ahead of them. Kiyotaka’s eyes widened as the sight of a charred, broken corpse came into sight. Time seemed to slow down as they passed, and he was able to pick out a few distinctive details. What was left of a gothic Lolita dress. The charred remains of two huge black curls. And distinctive red high heels.

                _That . . . must be . . . her . . ._

                Even knowing what she’d done to him, and to Yamada, it was still surreal seeing her body being dragged down the hallway. He wanted to stop and stare, but he focused on their escape. Getting off the fifth floor was their first priority – staring at what was left of his murderess was not. He looked away, gritting his teeth as the stairwell came into view.

                They rounded the corner and saw a horrible site.

                The grate was descending.

                Both of them started to panic, throwing themselves headfirst toward the remaining stairs and landing on the stomachs. Skidding and sliding forward, Kiyotaka felt the grate clip the toe of his boot before their forms finally stopped several tiles away from the grate, shaking and staring at it in terror. Mustering up what little strength he had, Kiyotaka ushered Sayaka to her feet. “We need to hide in one of the classrooms until morning – then we’ll meet up with the others once the fourth floor is open.”

                “What?”

                “We don’t want those things to find us and bring us back upstairs,” said Kiyotaka.

                “Then let’s hide in the third floor stairwell – if one of the others walks by we can let them know we’re okay,” said Sayaka. Kiyotaka mulled this over – while it would technically corner them if they were caught, they’d be no better off in one of the classrooms. If anything that put them a comfortable distance away from the fifth floor stairwell so they could, in theory, have a better chance of breaking away should one of their captors find them.

                “All right. Let’s go.”

 

                It had taken a while for Chihiro to stop crying once they realized that the others weren’t coming back from the trial. Mukuro was not good at this kind of thing, and settled for ushering her into the bathhouse where they could sit down and she could pat the programmer’s shoulders, telling her “there, there” or whatever else seemed like the kind of thing that might work to calm someone down. Protecting Chihiro from the monsters was one thing – getting her to stop crying was another.

                Mukuro was drawing a blank. What was she supposed to say to someone bawling their eyes out like this? Part of Mukuro wanted to chide her for being a crybaby just out of sheer frustration, but considering everything that she’d been through for the last . . . year, really, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Junko had done her best to traumatize the entirety of their class, and the two boys she was closest to were trapped in the trial room or suffering some unknown fate on the upper floors. Chihiro was scared out of her wits – she was dead, her friends were dying all around her, and the person she was stuck with was one of the monsters responsible for what had happened.

                But after what felt like an eternity (but was really only about twenty minutes), she was finally calmed down somewhat. Now they were just sitting in the bath house, quietly trying to figure out what they were supposed to do next. The fourth floor wouldn’t be open until the morning announcement so they couldn’t get to Ishimaru or Maizono (assuming they weren’t trapped on the top floor) and Mukuro wasn’t sure how they were supposed to get to Oowada and the others down in the trial chamber.

                “Mukuro?”

                “Hn?” she asked.

                “Why did you do it?”

                Mukuro stared ahead of her. That was a loaded question. Why had she agreed to her sister’s mad plan? Was this something she’d really wanted? She wasn’t sure how to answer Chihiro. She wasn’t sure how to answer herself, even if she knew what she’d wanted . . . how could that possibly sound like it was worth it?

                “I . . . love my sister,” she muttered. “She’s the only family I have . . . had.”

                Chihiro studied her for a moment, and Mukuro felt exposed. Did that make sense? It had to. Family was important, you only got one, and Junko was it. Junko was always looking out for her, making sure no one took advantage of her or used her . . . right? Her head was a mess and she felt like she had something resembling a headache.

                “So . . . you did it for Junko?”

                Mukuro knew that was the truth, but hearing it out loud made it sound even worse than it was. “Yeah. Family and all that, you know? I mean . . . family, right? That’s supposed to be important.” Chihiro looked at her sadly before shaking her head. She didn’t look angry, just disappointed, but it just made Mukuro feel like she’d been punched in the stomach.

                “No,” she said. She hugged herself, gripping her arms as she spoke. “It took my parents a little while to realize it, but every time we went to a family reunion . . . no one wanted to talk to me after I started dressing like a girl and, when I got older, identifying as a girl. They looked at me like there was something wrong with me and sometimes, even if they thought I couldn’t hear them . . . I did.” Chihiro closed her eyes. “We stopped going to family reunions. One of my aunts stayed in touch and visited when she could but . . . that was it.”

                “That’s . . . awful,” said Mukuro.

                “Not in the way you’re thinking,” said Chihiro. “Those people aren’t important to me anymore. I mean, I don’t want them to be dead or anything, but my dad and I talked about it and he said that sometimes you need to find your own family.” She laughed a little. “That’s what happened when I found Mondo and Kiyotaka. That’s why I think of them as my big brothers . . . even though I’m older than Kiyotaka.” Chihiro couldn’t help but crack a grin. “If you ever want to get him _really_ angry, bring that up.” She giggled. “I used to do this thing to him, where I’d put my arm around his shoulder, and tell him ‘when I was your age’ and then tell him what I was doing four months ago. He’d give me this look, and I’d just smile and tell him he’d understand when he was older. Mondo tried the same thing but he’s a year older than us and didn’t put that much forethought into it.”

                “So you . . . just chose Ishimaru-san and Oowada-san at random?” asked Mukuro.

                “Mmm, not at random – we just clicked really well. Everyone else too, but they’re all more like cousins than anything else,” said Chihiro. “Especially after this last year. We all got really close, you know? Because we were all we had left, assuming the information Headmaster Kirigiri got was accurate.” She frowned. “I think about that sometimes. With all the chaos outside, it’s possible some of that information was bad, but, even if my parents are still alive . . . this school should have been the safest place for me.”

                Mukuro frowned. She’d known it was a trap before the World's Most Despair Inducing Incident had even happened. Come to think of it, why wasn’t Chihiro yelling and screaming at her over that? She should have been punching and kicking her for what she’d done to her, her precious ‘big brothers’, their classmates, the world . . . and yet Chihiro just . . . wasn’t. Maybe that was part of Chihiro’s nature, but it made Mukuro feel like she didn’t deserve that kindness.

                “I need to ask you something now,” she said. “Why don’t you hate me?”

                Chihiro paused to think about this. “I don’t know,” she said. “I know I should, but I just don’t.”

                _DING DANG DING DONG!_

                Mukuro and Chihiro paused as the evening announcement played over the loudspeaker. It was now nighttime and, presumably, the remaining students would be going to bed. It would be nine hours until the morning announcement and the opening of the fourth floor. The soldier crossed her legs – that was a lot of time to fill with Chihiro before they could look for any of the others.

                “What now?” asked Chihiro.

                _Sheesh, are you a mind reader now?_ Mukuro wondered. “I . . . don’t know. We could head up to the third floor to wait for the gate to open up so we can see if Ishimaru-san and Maizono-san are up there, or try to find a way to the courthouse to find the others.” Right. That was her priority. Get Chihiro back to the others, then . . . then what? Now that the others knew she was the sister who had died and everything that Junko had done . . . was there a point in going back into hiding?

                _They probably do need my help to fight off those monsters . . ._

                Chihiro got to her feet and brushed off her skirt. “O, okay,” she said.

                Mukuro got to her feet as well, and the two walked out of the bathhouse . . .

                . . . and saw Sakura Oogami going somewhere.

                “Where’s Oogami going at this hour?” asked Mukuro.

                Chihiro blinked. “Leon and Sayaka said something about Sakura being a mole.”

                “Mole?” asked Mukuro. _I thought that was supposed to be my job . . . though obviously Junko had other plans . . . but why kill me and replace me with Oogami?_ “That’s weird. Oogami had her memories erased just like the rest of you – she wasn’t involved with any of this.” Chihiro looked at her quizzically. “I’m not lying. She should be on the same page as the rest of you.”

                “Should we follow her?”

                “Might as well – it’s not as if we have anything else to do.”

 

                The third floor stairwell was dark in the wake of the nighttime announcement, but for the moment that was perfectly fine with Sayaka. She wasn’t confident that the monsters would have a hard time seeing her and Kiyotaka in their current hiding spot under the stairs, but it was a nice fantasy for the moment. Part of her wanted to call out for Leon and the others, but then she realized that might attract the monsters first. The smart thing to do would be to wait for the gate to open, then look for the others quietly.

                “We can talk if we’re quiet, Maizono-san,” Kiyotaka whispered.

                “You can call me Sayaka if you want, Kiyotaka – we’ve known each other long enough, right?”

                “I, I supposed so,” he said. He shifted around a little. “And . . . no, nevermind.”

                “What?” she asked.

                “It’s nothing.”

                “No it’s not, you started saying something.”

                Kiyotaka’s eyes darted away. “I don’t know. It was a stupid idea.”

                Sayaka sighed. “From you? No way.”

                “Thanks.”

                “So what was this idea of yours?”

                Still refusing to look her in the eyes, he swallowed. “I wanted to ask you to call me something.”

                “That was it?” she asked.

                He frowned. “Is it that stupid?”

                “No! No not at all!”

                 “It’s just . . . this feels weird,” he said. “I think it’s because of what those things did to us when they brought us to the dojo.” Sayaka swallowed – she remembered hearing her father and most of her bandmates crying for her right before the one with the sword cut the red thread he’d summon from her chest. The sudden disappearance of their voices was possibly even worse than the pain that followed. “I heard my mom.”

                “I know how you feel,” Sayaka said. “I heard some of my loved ones, too.”

                Kiyotaka gave her a sympathetic smile. “I wish I knew what it meant.”

                “Me, too,” she said, shuddering. “But you wanted me to call you something?’

                “Oh, right,” he said. “This might sound kind of weird, but . . . it was really just my family that ever called me ‘Taka,’ and I’m . . . I’m not sure what I want.” Sayaka raised her eyebrow. That much over a nickname? “I . . . I just sort of know I’m never going to hear my mom call me that again and now . . . I’m wondering if I should have you and the other call me that once we get back to them.” He shook his head. “It’s probably really stupid. We have much bigger things to-“

                They both froze at the sound of the monsters on the floor above them. They covered each other’s mouths, their eyes gazing upwards in horror. The sounds stopped, and for several minutes it was completely silent. Still, neither of them dared to make another sound until they were sure the sounds were gone and that those . . . things . . . weren’t getting any closer.

                Still, even when Sayaka thought about going back to the topic at hand, she couldn’t. She was too scared to say anything. What if they heard them and dragged them back to the fifth floor? There was no guarantee there’d be another killing or that the top floor would open up. As removed her hand from Kiyotaka’s mouth, she pressed a finger to his lips, and he nodded in understanding.

                It was going to be a long wait to morning.

 

                Sakura was fighting Monokuma in the gymnasium.

                Leon and Sayaka had been right about Sakura being a mole for Monokuma, and the mention of “hostages” confirmed the couple’s theory that she was being coerced. Chihiro had mixed feelings about that – on the hand it made her glad to know that she wasn’t doing this because she wanted to or had gotten mixed up with Junko’s plans. On the other hand it still left a bad taste in her mouth.

                _No. None of this is her fault. Just like I don’t blame Mondo for killing me, I can’t blame her._

Mukuro was watching the whole fight quietly, muttering to herself. She was studying the fight closely, being the only other student who had truly mastered any kind of combat skills. “Junko’s taking this seriously,” she finally said aloud. She tilted her head to the side and narrowed her gaze. “But why hasn’t she had Oogami killed yet?”

                Chihiro turned to her in question before her eyes lit up. “Violence against the headmaster is forbidden,” she said quietly. It was the rule that had gotten Mukuro killed and yet Sakura had violated it multiple times with more aggression than the soldier had. “I don’t understand. Why is Sakura still alive if she’s violated the rule?”  
                “Because there’s no one else watching,” said Mukuro. She stole a sideways glance. “Well, not that Junko can see. Aside from us, it looks like there’s another spectator to this event.” Chihiro turned to see the gymnasium door open a crack – she stepped closer and saw it was none other than Naegi, watching on in horror.

                “Naegi?” Chihiro asked. It took her a moment to remember her couldn’t see her or hear her and she sighed, turning back to the fight. “A, at least Sakura isn’t going to be Monokuma’s mole anymore, right?” she asked. Mukuro didn’t answer her, and Chihiro realized she was still conflicted about her sister. She frowned. _I guess that I didn’t get through to her . . ._

_. . . at least, not yet._

 

                7 am rolled around, and the familiar chime and morning announcement followed.

                Kiyotaka closed his eyes and gripped the sleeves of his jacket. Soon the gate would open and he and Sayaka would be able to leave the fourth floor and reunite with the others. They both got to their feet, fidgeting nervously as they waited. Their eyes met for a moment – if the monsters found them, who knew what they would do to them as punishment for escaping?

                A handful of the living students came into view, and after a satisfying “clunk”, the gate began to raise. While the living students were waiting patiently, Sayaka dropped to the floor to crawl under once there was enough room, and Kiyotaka quickly followed suit – she had a point, and he wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible, too. It was a liberating feeling – even as trapped as they felt within the school itself, it had been NOTHING compared to what he’d gone through these past twenty-four hours or so.

                “Okay, now what?” Sayaka asked nervously.

                “I guess we look for Kyoudai and the others,” he said.

                Sayaka nodded as the two hurried away from the fourth floor corridor. Neither of them was ready to start calling for the others just yet out of fear the monsters would find them first, but they HAD to find the others. Safety in numbers, maybe, but if nothing else they both wanted the comfort of the people they were closest to.

                They didn’t need to look far.

                “TAKA!”

                Kiyotaka was taken by surprise when he was suddenly struck with a 90 pound freight train named Chihiro Fujisaki. He was too stunned to react right away, but she already had him in a bear hug and was sobbing into his chest, but once he was able to process what was going on he returned the gesture, slightly lifting her into the air in the process. He could barely make out that she was worried and scared and thought he was gone. It was unfortunate that she was so cold, but he didn’t care. After everything he’d gone through he NEEDED his little Chihiro.

                “I missed you, too,” he said, barely holding back his own tears.

                “And where the hell have you been?!”

                Kiyotaka looked up from Chihiro (who was still crying but seemed to be calming down some) to see Sayaka was staring down Mukuro Ikusaba, her arms folded and an angry glare on her face. The soldier was looking at the pop idol with wide eyes, but otherwise she was doing a rather good job of holding back her emotions. Strangely, none of the others were in sight.

                “I suppose I could ask you two the same question,” said Mukuro.

                Kiyotaka felt conflicted. _I guess it’s not easy when the girl you like helped end the world._

                “And we’ll answer that, but I think you’ve got a lot more to answer for right now.” Sayaka’s words were acidic and angry, and Kiyotaka supposed she had every right to be. He could almost feel her anger, and he clung to Chihiro a little more tightly in response. She was just a little bit terrifying in that moment and even though he knew she wasn’t mad at him he didn’t want to be there in that moment. What the twins had done was beyond terrible, and they absolutely deserved some kind of an answer from at least one of them. Junko was the mastermind, yes, but undoubtedly Mukuro must have known something.

                Right?

                “N, no, it’s okay!” said Chihiro. “Mukuro saved me!”

                “After she and her sister ended the world and made us play a game that’s killed eight people.”

                “Wait, she saved you?” Kiyotaka asked.

                Sayaka grunted in frustration before grabbing Mukuro by the arm and starting to drag her towards the second floor. “Let’s get the hell away from here so we can talk,” she said, her voice dripping with bitterness. She shot a nasty glare at Mukuro. “And don’t you _dare_ pull another disappearing act. Do you understand?”

                Mukuro silently nodded, unable to look Sayaka in the eye. Kiyotaka shuffled uncomfortably as he started to follow the pop idol and the soldier, Chihiro clutching his hand as she followed along behind him. He turned to look at her, seeing a worried look in her eyes. He tried to give her a reassuring smile, but in that moment he felt like he needed some reassurance himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DING DANG DING DONG! Author’s Announcements!
> 
> Although Chihiro’s gender came up in the reviews this past chapter, I’m not going to reiterate my stance on the issue, though I will admit Chihiro as cross-dresser may have been the “safer” option. I dunno, guys, I’ve just heard people can get nasty over this one because of how the whole situation was handled in the game and the anime (which . . . yeah it could have probably been better). So there’s that. 
> 
> Song Choice: “The Real Folk Blues” by Yoko Kanno. “The Real Folk Blues” is far and away one of my most favorite anime endings EVER. Usually people go crazy over openings (and yeah usually openings beat the stuff out of endings – usually) but this is just SUCH a good ending. 
> 
> Dixxy


	12. Love Runs Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dust begins to settle in the wake of the third trial. Then things get worse. A lot worse.

Haunted

By Dixxy Mouri

Chapter Eleven: Love Runs Out  


                “W, wait!” Chihiro had called out. She looked up at Kiyotaka, frowned, and broke away from him to go after Sayaka and Mukuro. The soldier looked a bit bewildered and nervous, but the pop singer looked like she was on the war path. Chihiro sort of followed by Mukuro was confused but Sayaka’s actions had her just as perplexed.

                “No, we’re going to have a _talk_ ,” Sayaka spit out, sneering at Mukuro.

                The soldier gulped.

                “We shouldn’t be yelling! Those things might find us!” Kiyotaka shouted.

                Sayaka looked at him in exasperation. “Bricks in glass houses, Kiyotaka!”

                Realizing his error, Kiyotaka quickly covered his mouth with his hands like a child trying to take back admitting to taking a cookie without permission, but he’d raised a good point – there were monsters in the school and they needed to find someplace safe until it looked like they were gone. Sayaka still looked upset, her hand wrapped tightly around Mukuro’s wrist.

                _This isn’t going to solve anything. And besides, what’s with Sayaka? It was her idea to try and get Mukuro on our side in the first place!_ Chihiro crossed her arms, temporarily taking charge. “Library.” Sayaka started to drag Mukuro again before the programmer interrupted her. “I, I think Mukuro can get there on her own.”

                “Chihiro, she’s one of the reasons we’re even in this situation!” Sayaka called back.

                “Not. Now.” Chihiro was stern with her words, pointing to the third floor stairwell. She was only able to hold that composure for a moment before reflexively calming herself and looking at Sayaka with wide, concerned eyes. “Um . . . y, yeah, now’s not really a good time for that. I mean . . . monsters and all.”

                Sayaka froze for a moment, closed her eyes, and nodded. “Yeah. Okay.”

                The four of them headed towards the library, Mukuro and Sayaka walking there in silence. The pop idol was leading them, her arms crossed and her steps quick and deliberate. The soldier was looking downward, barely paying attention to where she was going. Chihiro hung back with Kiyotaka, who looked pretty shaken. “What happened?” she asked, thinking the question “Are you okay?” might not be appropriate.

                “I couldn’t get away from the monsters. They found me sometime after I . . . ” he said quietly.

                Chihiro squeezed his hand. Cold, but familiar. “Mondo and I have been really worried.”

                “Y, yeah. Maiz-Sayaka told me.” Kiyotaka relayed to her a short version of what had happened on the fifth floor. Chihiro didn’t like the idea of the monsters having some sort of leader or . . . ‘plans’ for them, and even worse was that they didn’t know exactly what had been down to them. She bit her bottom lip – he’d barely been dead for a day and already a lot had happened to him.

                By the time they had finished they reached the library, at which point the pop idol looked ready to start yelling again, her eyes locked on Mukuro. “Now that we’re here, I think we-“ Sayaka didn’t get to finish her thought before Chihiro had thrown herself between the two her arms stretched out to try and form a wall between the girls. “Chihiro, what the hell has gotten into you?! She’s one of the badguys!”

                Looking at Kiyotaka in frustration one more time before finding the last of her nerve, Chihiro took a page out of the idol’s book and dragged her by the wrist into the library. “N, not the time, n, not the place,” she said. She looked over her shoulder. “Kiyotaka, Mukuro, stay here – Sayaka and I are going to have a little, um, talk.” Sayaka’s jaw dropped as the passed through the door to the archive.

                “Are you out of your mind!? Mukuro may as well have killed you herself!” Sayaka snapped.

                “B, but we need her!” Chihiro said back. “Unless something happens to Sakura – and I really, really hope nothing does – we’re _defenseless_.” She crossed her arms and swallowed. “Kiyotaka told me what happened to the two of you. He said you’d barely gotten away. But, but Mukuro on the other hand actually managed to kill the one that tried to attack me.”

                “Probably because she’s a _monster_!” Sayaka shot back.

                “N, no I don’t think so, and I’m surprised at you. Yamada said he thought Mukuro looked conflicted about what was happening, she saved me, and to top it all off she’s with the rest of us because Junko _murdered_ her. Maybe she’s trying to make up for what happened, I don’t know, but right now she’s the only thing we _have_.”

                “How do we know she won’t just betray us to those things?”

                “But why would she?”

                “Despair?” Sayaka asked. “That seems to be Junko’s thing.”

                “I’m . . . not really sure it’s hers, though.”  
                Sayaka laughed. “Please. I’m sure she’d be JUST as tickled as her sister if she found out what happened to Kiyotaka and me. Evil monster ghosts hunting us down after we’re already dead so they can continue to hurt us? I bet that she would just _love_ that, now wouldn’t she? I bet if Kiyotaka tells her about it Mukuro’s going to be just _tickled_.”

                _So that’s it_ , Chihiro thought to herself. Now Sayaka’s mood swing made sense. The programmer hadn’t gone through it herself so she didn’t have a firm grasp of what it must had been like, but Kiyotaka had said it was a horrible, painful experience. _No wonder you’re lashing out now._ Knowing what was going on made Chihiro feel a little better, as at least she understood what she was dealing with. But that didn’t mean she thought bringing it up would help any. She needed to calm her down about the situation at first and then they could deal with what happened to the two of them.

                “But, but, um . . . you said you thought we could maybe get her to help because, um, your dance club thing. Right?” Chihiro sat down on a stack of books and folded her hands into her lap. “I, I know that what she did was really wrong. Leon and Mondo did some really wrong things, too, but we’ve been able to forgive them.”

                Sayaka’s eyes widened. “Speaking of them, where are there? Isn’t the third trial over?”

                Chihiro gasped – no one had told her or Kiyotaka yet. “Yes, but . . .” She took a deep breath and told Sayaka about what had happened when she and Mukuro attempted to rendeveux with the others. The pop idol stared at her, looking lost and afraid. “I’m sorry – we don’t know what happened. H, hopefully they just missed the elevator somehow, and, and maybe they’ll figure out a way to get back to the school.”

                “There’s no way to get to them?” Sayaka asked quietly.

                Chihiro winced. Now she was she going to get her even _more_ agitated.

                “So . . . Leon’s trapped in the courthouse,” she said quietly.

                Chihiro nodded. “I’m sorry . . . we don’t know what happened.”

                Sayaka stayed quiet, mulling this over. “That’s why you’re protecting her. She could have abandoned you but . . . she didn’t,” she said. Chihiro wanted to sigh in exasperation as that was what she had been trying to say, but chose to nod instead. “All right. I still think that she needs to answer for her part in what’s happened to us, but . . . okay. We’ll see what she does.”

                Chihiro smiled. “All right, let’s go back.”

 

_Meanwhile . . ._

 

                It wasn’t that Mukuro didn’t understand why they were fighting. Even Junko would agree that their classmates had a right to be angry with them – that was part of despair, she completely expected that was going to happen. At this point the cat was out of the bag – the other students knew she was around so there wasn’t a point in hiding anymore, so she might as well help them fight off the monsters. It was an enemy that needed to be fought, she was a soldier, so this was what she was good at.

                While Sayaka and Chihiro continued their discussion within the archives, however, Ishimaru was being uncharacteristically quiet, absently sitting in the corner by the computers. Considering Sayaka wasn’t going to let her get a word in edgewise (and even if she could, this was one kind of battlefield Mukuro was woefully unexperienced with) she decided to try her luck with Kiyotaka, quietly taking a seat next to him on the floor. He glanced over at her briefly before looking over the watch Chihiro had given back to him, turning it over in his hands.

                “That was smart,” she said.

                “Huh?”

                “Trying to leave a message for everyone else,” she said. “It was smart.”

                “Oh,” he said. “Thanks.”

                Mukuro pulled her knees to her chest. “I’m sorry I ran off on you.”

                Kiyotaka didn’t respond to that, though the look on his face plainly showed he was mulling this over. Mukuro buried her face in her knees. All of this despair was supposed to make her happy because it was going to make Junko happy. Instead all she felt was misery, and it wasn’t translating into the euphoria that her little sister liked to talk about. Her classmates – both dead and alive – were miserable.

                Feeling unwanted, Mukuro started to stand before Kiyotaka looked at her again, and she sat back down. “Ready to chew my ear off about what I did?” she said.

                Ishimaru squirmed in place. “I probably should, but I don’t want to,” he said.

                _That was an unusual answer._ “Well, why not?” asked Mukuro.

                The prefect glanced her way. “Because she betrayed you, too.”

                If she’d had any, the color would have drained from Mukuro’s face. Part of her wanted to snap back that maybe that had all been part of the plan, too, because the insinuation he’d made about her sister was causing her to see a little red, but he was right. She had betrayed her. But when had she decided to-

                Mukuro slapped her hands over her mouth and clenched her eyes shut. Kiyotaka was looking at her curiously, waving his hand in front of her face. “Ikusaba-san?” he asked. Mukuro couldn’t respond. The horror of what she had just realized was too real. She could feel tears leaking from the corners of her eyes as the prefect started to panic. “Ikusaba-san!”

                “ _She . . . she . . . she planned it all along!_ ”

                Suddenly it all made sense. Junko had been so specific with her about what she was supposed to do during the game . . . right until the confrontation with Monokuma. At that point Junko had been “vague” at best over what she was supposed to do, hand-waving it with excuses about how they wouldn’t know who would be the first ones to die and such. But now Mukuro understood – Junko had been “vague” about her post-confrontation plans because there were none.

                Mukuro wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. She was angry and wanted to scream. She was upset and wanted to cry. Most of all she felt like she was in despair . . . and it made her feel ill. If this was the despair her sister loved so much, Mukuro no longer wanted anything to do with it. Why did she want this? How could she want this for other people?

                “Ikusaba-san, are you-“

                Mukuro kind of wanted to punch him in the face. Of course she wasn’t all right! She was _dead!_ Her sister, her only sister, her only family, the only person who’d ever loved her or could love her had been the one who killed her and _at least_ seven other people, maybe more if the game didn’t stop. But she saw a look of genuine concern in his eyes, and she wanted to shake some sense into him for another reason.

                “Why are you being nice to me?” she asked.

                Ishimaru’s face looked like it would have paled if it could. “I, uh . . .” He started to stutter. That was always weird. Usually the guy was extremely confident whenever he said anything (even if it was wrong or stupid) unless he was talking to her. Mukuro suspected that he was intimidated by her, being a former member of an elite mercenary group and all, and yet one of his best friends was the leader of a big ass biker gang – how did that work? She wondered if it was because she was a _girl_ who knew how to fight, but he didn’t seem to have that problem around Oogami. Maybe it was because she used weapons, but at some point she recalled his dad was a cop and he’d picked up kendo during that one pre-apocalyptic year they’d all spent together. She’d never been able to figure it out. Now here he was again, nervous around her for absolutely no discernable reason (though he had kept it together better than usual this time).

                She was growing impatient. “Well?”

                “. . . w, well we’re all in this together now, r, right?” he said.

                Mukuro sighed. “Okay?”

                “I . . . you’re right.”

                “What am I right about?”

                “Um, agreeing with me about being in this together.”

                Mukuro shook her head. _Weirdo._

“So . . . can I ask you a question?”

                “You’ve asked me several.”

                “No, I mean, different subject. Where are Kyoudai and the others?”

                “Don’t know. They didn’t come back from the trial.”

                “What!?”

                “Yeah. We went to go meet the elevator but just Naegi and the other survivors got off – I’m guessing that means Celes paid for what she did to you, but none of the other ghosts showed up. Chihiro told me that Mondo, Leon, and Yamada went down to the courthouse to see the outside of it but that’s it,” she said.

                “There’s no way to get down there?” asked Ishimaru.

                “Look, I’ll admit I know of a few more ways to get around the school than you guys do, but I can’t get to any of them. They’re behaving the same way those gates blocking off the floors do.” She sighed. “If they did work I would have already brought Chihiro to them that way. Chances are they’re in the same boat if they find one of those exits.”

                Ishimaru sighed. “So the only way to get to them is . . .”

                “. . . yeah. That.”

                “So then we have to wait for something else to happen.”

                “Pretty much.”

                Sayaka and Chihiro’s fight had finally started to calm down. Ishimaru got to his feet and offered to help her to hers. Mukuro ignored the gesture but smiled at him, appreciating the thought as she stood on her own, watching the pop idol and programmer stepped closer. Sayaka still looked more than a little crossed.

                “Considering you’re probably our only hope of surviv-” Sayaka stopped in the middle of the word, closing her eyes and swallowing. “Avoiding those monster things, I suppose you can stay with us for now.” Chihiro rolled her eyes but seemed to give up, satisfied that she had at least gotten the pop idol to go along with it.

                But that didn’t change the cold shoulder that Sayaka was giving Mukuro. Chihiro had a look of apology in her eyes, and Ishimaru was giving her a sympathetic frown as he shuffled his feet, but the soldier shook her head. She deserved this. She deserved it from all of them, not just Sayaka. Mondo, Leon, Hifumi, Celes, and everyone who was still alive.

                “Okay,” Mukuro said quietly.

                Ishimaru gently put a hand on her shoulder. Mukuro turned to him in question, but he wasn’t looking at her. “I’ve got an idea. Let’s see how the survivors are doing. It’s probably best we keep an eye on them, right?” he said. Mukuro’s eyes widened – we was changing the subject to try and pull attention away from her. But why?

                Chihiro nodded. “Y, yeah, that’s probably a good idea . . . I guess.”

 

_A few days later . . ._

 

                When they finally reached the top of the courthouse, they’d found another elevator, smaller and less ornate than the cage that brought the students down for the class trials. Celes and the others were, at least temporarily, relieved, as they effortless passed through the closed door into the relatively small elevator (at least compared to the one that brought the students to the courthouse). Still, it was more than large enough to hold all four of them.

                “So . . . which button do we press?”

                One by one, they realized it didn’t matter. Mondo absently tried pressing one of the buttons, but it wouldn’t budge. Sulking and moaning, the ghosts left the elevator one by one and headed back to the courthouse, where they remained for a long time – Leon guessed it had to have been at least two or three days. It was during this time Hifumi and Celes learned that ghosts couldn’t sleep, and that Celes found herself feeling more than a little lost.

                Based on what she’d gathered from listening to the boys talking, Sayaka and Chihiro had forgiven their killers rather easily and, aside from being dead, they were all getting along fine. Both Mondo and Leon were agitated they couldn’t get back up to the school, one of them telling her that they’d heard their respective victims scream shortly after the student elevator began its descent and couldn’t get to them. They spent much of their time pacing, sometimes disappearing to look for alternate exits. They had yet to succeed.

                Hifumi was very quiet, and Celes realized he might not be as forgiving as the girls. And considering everything that happened? How could he be? Sayaka had tried to kill Leon so she shouldered some of the guilt in that incident, and in the case of Chihiro, there had been a real effort on Mondo’s part to protect her secret. Moreover, neither the ballplayer nor the biker had planned their crimes. They were spur of the moment, messy, almost accidental.

                Celes had been planning her crime for days.

                And that might have been how long they’d been wandering up and down the various courtrooms. At one point they realized they must have missed Junko, as crossed-out portraits for Celes had cropped up on the floors coinciding with remaining students, as well as one that no one could place an owner to – there was no execution there (just a construction zone where one might have gone) and hieroglyphics on the walls.

                “If we’d run into Junko . . . we could have followed her out,” Leon whined.

                Still, it was impossible to tell how long they were trapped in the courthouse – there were no clocks to speak of and their inability to sleep even robbed them using sleep cycle to guess the passage of time. Not that it mattered, Celes suspected. They were dead. They were effectively out of time anyways. All they could do was try to listen for a body discovery announcement (if they even reached that far) or the sound of the student elevator descending for another trial. Not that anyone wanted those events to occur, because it would mean at least two more people would be dead.

                Currently, the group was in what was the topmost courthouse – they’d concluded this was Naegi’s courthouse based on the plain and simple décor as the presence of a large barrel in the execution chamber (which Hifumi had explained is at the center of his execution – stabbing swords through a barrel to see how long it took before his luck ran out).

                Celes was staring at Hifumi from a relatively safe distance. They hadn’t talked much since her execution, least of all over what she’d done to him and Kiyotaka. She wasn’t sure how he felt about her, and she was afraid to ask. Then again, she had to know. She couldn’t go on like this for who knew how long.

                Swallowing her pride, Celes folded her hands in front of her and approached Hifumi, her eyes on the floor and her head hung low. The artist briefly acknowledged her and padded the spot on the floor next to him. She gingerly took the seat, still afraid to say anything. She caught a glimpse of Leon and Mondo quietly excusing themselves to give them some privacy.

                Celes wasn’t sure where to start. Luckily for her, Hifumi did. He put his hand over hers.

                “We’re all scared, Taeko-chan,” he said. “No one knows what to do.”

                “It doesn’t excuse what I did,” she said.

                Hifumi didn’t respond right away, and they sat there quietly for a long time. At one point he squeezed her hand. She clenched her eyes shut, unsure what she wanted to do. Why was her trying to comfort _her_? She was the one who’d messed up. She was the one who’d convinced him to kill one of their friends before offing him herself. What the hell was wrong with him!?  
                “Taeko-chan . . . you can’t blame yourself. Not entirely.”

                “I pre-meditated two murders.”

                “Are you certain that Master Kiyotaka Ishimaru or I wouldn’t have done something if given the proper motivation? Or that one of us would have rolled a 1 on a willpower check?” Celes was stonefaced in response. Hifumi had a serious look on his face as he stared straight ahead of him. “I’ve known Sayaka, Leon, and Mondo as long as you have, and if we weren’t in this situation, none of this would have happened. And I don’t think you would have willingly played a game if winning meant someone else died, right?”

                “I put my own life on the line dozens of times,” Celes mumbled.

                “Well, maybe your life, but I don’t think you’d put someone else in danger. Big difference. Everyone that lost to you walked away with their life, right?” He chuckled. “Maybe not their life _savings_ , but their life.” Hifumi finally turned to look at her. “I’ve been thinking about it since the day the game started but . . . everything feels tailor made to get us to go crazy, you know? The memories and the motives are obvious, but . . . it’s everything else that’s been bugging me. Hope’s Peak used to have a pretty normal setting, just like any slice of life anime or visual novel, or anime based off of a visual novel, even that weird one with the birds the Americans made up-“

                Celes pouted at Hifumi.

                “Oh. Right. The point. Well, now the school looks more like something out of, I don’t know, a shonen action series or something the Gainax guys would come up with on drugs . . . assuming they aren’t already on drugs. And less panty shots. And fewer giant robots.” Hifumi sighed. “The point is that none of those things are relaxing. They’re meant to get you excited and pumped up, to get your adrenaline pumping, which is great if you’re trying to make an action manga but here? You know what getting us on edge is supposed to do here.”

                “Who knows wha else she might be doing? Messing with the food or water, finding other ways to play with our judgement? What if those announcements have subliminal messages in them, urging us to . . .” Celes bit her lip, unable to finish her sentence. She was in no position to be trying to defend what she’d done. Not to Hifumi, anyways. Perhaps as a means of trying to comfort Mondo or Leon, but not him. Not after what she’d made him do or what she’d done to him.

                “Taeko, you’re allowed to be upset, too, you know.”

                Celes closed her eyes as Hifumi hugged her, and she did everything in her power not to cry.

                It barely worked.

               

                “Think Celes and Hifumi are done having their moment yet?”

                Leon shrugged. Sensing that the gambler and the otaku needed a moment alone, they’d excused themselves and had retreated to a different level of the courthouse. From when they’d passed through earlier they had deduced it belonged to Hagakure (there were lots of strange artifacts from all over the globe decorating the room and the execution matched Hifumi’s description). It was quiet in the courtroom, the silence only broken by Mondo’s question.

                Leon didn’t know, but it felt like it was too soon to check on them. “It’s different.”

                “Yeah, it is.” Mondo was leaning against Monokuma’s throne, his arms crossed in contemplation. Leon sighed – he was sitting by what would have been his podium had he survived and Hagakure tried to kill someone, lost in his own thoughts as well. Part of him wondered how much it really matter how long it took the other two to have their talk – maybe what really mattered was figuring out what happened next?

                “Have you thought about why we haven’t . . . you know, moved on?” Leon asked.

                “Are you sure you want that, dude?” asked Mondo.

                “. . . point taken.”

                “But you know, you are right. Aren’t ghosts only supposed to hang around if they have unfinished business or some shit? I get that the game isn’t over but there’s nothing we can do for whoever’s still alive. So then what’s keeping us here?” He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his duster. “And why just us?”

                “What do you mean?” asked Leon.

                “A bunch of people died during the World's Most Despair Inducing Incident, right? And according to Hifumi, Headmaster Kirigiri is dead, too. So why is it just us haunting the school? If they all moved on, why didn’t we?” He sighed, stepping away from the throne to start pacing. “They should all still be here. But they’re not – only two of us haven’t shown up, Mukuro and Kyoudai, and while Mukuro is _definitely_ in a different boat than the rest of us, I don’t understand why he’s not here.”

                “That just raises even more questions,” said Leon. He groaned and held his head. “Damn it.”

                “It’s weird. We should know more than our classmates, but in the end . . . we don’t.”

                “And it doesn’t matter anyways. We have no lives going forward after this anyways.” Leon snorted. “Before we got stuck down here Sayaka and I were talking a little about what we were going to do if things went differently. Someone brought up me proposing to her, and I asked her what she would have said.” He lowered his head. “It’s like, especially after what happened last year, I’ve thought about it, but we’d never really discussed it before. Now . . . it hurts too much to think about.”

                “Did she give you an answer?” Mondo asked, wide eyed with curiosity.

                “No, we didn’t have answers for each other,” said Leon. “You ever think about that?”

                “Huh?”

                “You know, finding a girl, settling down-“

                Mondo laughed bitterly and closed his eyes. “Fucking Hagakure.”

                “I didn’t think you swung that way-“

                “THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT!” Mondo glared at Leon, huffing and puffing for a few moments before calming down. “I mean, not that there’s anything wrong with guys and guys or girls and girls, but no, not for me. It’s more something he said to me before the world went to shit that kind of stuck with me and now I realize he was right on the money.”

                “Okay, that makes more sense,” said Leon. “I didn’t think he was your type.”

                “I SAID NO!”

                Leon smirked. “Continue.”

                “Dick,” said Mondo. “Maybe I don’t want to.”

                “Well you have the rest of eternity to tell me. I can wait. I’ve got nothing better to do.”

                Mondo gave Leon a frustrated sigh before obliging. “Okay. Fine.” He looked up at some of the hanging crystals in thought. “Remember how back before shit went down the school was trying to cultivate his fortune telling like they did with most of our talents? With Hagakure, they managed to get his success rate all the way up from 30% to 90%.”

                Leon whistled. “Shit. His rates are going to skyrocket.”

                Mondo rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I don’t think the school wanted him exploiting people and probably told him not to do it. Granted he told me I was getting an ‘educational discount’ when I volunteered to have my fortune read, but I think that’s what happened.”

                “Didn’t think you were interested in that stuff,” said Leon.

                “I was really, really worried about what was going to happen to me after graduation – you know, _actual_ graduation, not whatever the fuck it was Junko came up with. I realized none of the guys in my gang would stick around after they all graduated and I didn’t think there’d be much for me as just a gang leader, right? I didn’t want to get involved with the yakuza or anything because, you know, I actually _did_ talk to the Kuzuryu siblings a couple of times before the sister got offed and they were both kind of fucked up and . . . well no thanks. So I decided I wanted to get some peace of mind or something and thought, well, his accuracy got a lot better so maybe I’d get a better idea about it.”

                “What did he tell you?” asked Leon. He swallowed. “He didn’t see . . . this, did he?”

                “I don’t know about that – if he did he probably told himself it was that 10% part he was still getting wrong. I mean I asked about if I could do well with the carpentry thing and all, but one of the other things I asked him, was, well, would I even find like, you know, my soulmate or whatever.” He closed his eyes. “I didn’t know what he meant at the time but . . . he said I wouldn’t.”

                Leon swallowed. “Oh.”

                “That’s . . . one of the reasons I jumped at the chance to be with Junko. I mean, doing the whole lovey dovey shit is supposed to be a part of you know, growing up or whatever and I think I freaked out over the idea it wouldn’t ever happen to me. I wanted to prove him wrong, and since Junko offered, I thought . . . I thought I was part of that 10% he was wrong about. I tried to tell myself that. I know it sounds stupid and shit but . . . my family was kind of messed up, but it wasn’t bad, and I kind of wanted that again. But less fucked up. Now I know . . . he was right. I never met anyone. Because . . . I’m dead.”

                “I didn’t think you thought about stuff like that.”

                “Meh, getting laid was all right and all but sometimes I watched you and Sayaka together and sometimes I was like damn you guys look stupid . . . but you were really happy and that was cool. And then I’d see like, middle aged couples trying to grocery shop with a couple of loud brats in tow and they were fighting and trying to wrangle the kids but they looked . . . happy. And then one day when I was out on my bike I saw this like, totally ancient old couple just sitting on a bench and holding hands and I was like, shit they both kind of look like mashed potatoes but they were holding hands and just smiling and I thought . . . I wonder if that’ll ever be me.”

                “Mashed potatoes, Mondo?”

                “FOR FUCK’S SAKE, DOUCHE NOZZLE! I JUST POURED MY HEART OUT TO YOU AND THAT’S WHAT YOU TOOK FROM THAT?!”

                “YOU DON’T USE ‘MASHED POTATOES’ TO DESCRIBE PEOPLE, ASS!”

                “THEY WERE OLD AND WRINKLY!”

                “THAT’S NOTHING LIKE MASHED POTATOES! MASHED POTATOES ARE LUMPY, DUMBASS!”

                “THAT WASN’T THE DAMN POINT! IT WAS THAT THEY WERE OLD AND WRINKLY AND IN LOVE EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE OLD AND WRINKLY, OKAY? I THOUGHT IT WAS SWEET OR SOME SHIT, OKAY?!” Leon paused, realizing that Mondo was crying. “BECAUSE I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO BE OLD AND WRINKLY! I DON’T GET THAT ANYMORE! ALL BECAUSE OF HER! IT’S NOT FAIR!”

                Leon got to his feet. “Dude. I get it. I think we all do.”

                Mondo swallowed. He was still visibly upset, but he was wiping the tears with the sleeve of his coat to try and calm down. “Sorry, I don’t usually get like this, you know?” He chuckled. “It’s just everything is so fucked up right now . . .” Mondo paused, his eyes wide as he stared past Leon. “Oh fucking _hell!_ ”

                Leon turned around, a squeaky gasp escaping from his throat. “ _Five_ of them?”

                Five of the black and white monsters were staring at the two of them, their mouths curled into that creepy smile they all had. Pieces began to fall into place in Leon’s mind. Mondo and Celes had been able to handle two of them, but _five_ of them against just the two of them? Leon didn’t have any crazy maybe based on his execution powers as far as they knew.

                Mondo grabbed Leon’s shoulder and pulled him back – the danger that had suddenly showed up snapped the biker out of funk, at least for the moment. “I got this,” he said, raising his hand above his head. “HA! TAKE THAT!” Mondo threw his arm towards the monsters, clearly expecting to repeat the same trick from a few days earlier.

                Much to their dismay, nothing happened.

                “Mondo, why isn’t it working?” Leon asked quietly. “Why aren’t you doing the thing?”

                “I don’t know, Leon,” Mondo replied, speaking slowly as they kept their eyes on the monsters before them. “If I did, I would have hurt them already.” He swallowed. “I, um, I think we probably need to run.” The boys stood their ground for only a few moments more before running in the opposite direction.

                It was no use.

                Within moments the monsters tackled them both to the ground, covering their mouths with slimy, gross hands. Leon struggled, but they were impossibly strong and impossibly fast, and before he knew it was he being carried by two of the monsters. His eyes locked with Mondo’s equally panic stricken gaze and he knew they both had the same thought

                _Where are they taking us?!_

As they struggled to break free, the monsters carried them upwards through the courthouse until they arrived at the second elevator. Leon’s eyes widened as they were dragged into the elevator, wondering how the monsters could possibly use it. They were spirits too, right? They couldn’t interest with the living world either . . . right?

                He wasn’t wrong – they simply passed through the ceiling of the elevator and began to climb up the elevator shaft. Leon evaluated the situation, trying to think of something quickly. _Okay, think – you’re good at thinking on your feet, it’s one of the reasons you got so good at baseball. There has got to be a way to get you and Mondo out of this!_

Nothing came to him as the monsters emerged from the elevator shaft in some sort of small hallway with a single door with a knob and another that looked like it slid. The monsters carrying Mondo dragged him through the sliding door before following suit with Leon. Leon clenched his eyes shut – this felt different from passing through normal doors, and he quickly realized why. The monsters had brought him to the rec room, apparently pulling him through . . . the vending machine?

                These things could pull them through objects they normally couldn’t pass through.

                On the one hand, this meant he was back in the school. On the other hand, this really wasn’t helping their situation. He continued to struggle as they were dragged out of the rec room and through the third floor hall. Nothing was working. They were too strong, impossibly strong. But there had to be a way to get free. There had to be!

                They reached the fourth floor stairwell. They were going up.

                Once on the fourth floor, the monsters began to make a beeline for the fifth floor stairwell. As they did, Leon saw the door to the chem lab open where none other than Sakura Oogami emerged, a serious and determined look on her face. For a fleeting moment, Leon saw hope. _Sakura! SAKURA!_ With renewed determination, Leon swallowed his pride and bit down on the hand covering his mouth.

                The monster yowled in pain, releasing his mouth and knocking into the other monster carrying him. For a few fleeting moments, Leon was free. “ _SAKURA! SAKURA!_ ” Leon screamed. “ _HELP US!_ ” But Sakura ignored him, continuing to move back towards the third floor stairwell. Leon chased after her, only remembering he was dead when his hand passed through her arm.

                He paused in defeat, just as one of the monsters grabbed the lock hanging around his neck.

 

                _“SAKURA! SAKURA! HELP US!_ ”

                Sayaka’s eyes widened and her head shot up. “ _Leon!_ ”

                “Huh? Did you hear something?” Chihiro asked.

                Sayaka got to her feet. One of her talents as the Super High School Level Idol was a keen ear, something that one of the upper classmen had helped her with before the world ended. Developing a sense of where sounds were coming from had helped her immensely as a musician. “I heard Leon!”

                It had been several days since she and Kiyotaka had escaped from the fifth floor, and Monokuma had decided to out Sakura as his mole. Unsurprisingly, it went poorly, and the remaining six students were decidedly split on how to handle the information. There was no surprise Naegi and Asahina took Sakura’s side, and it was good to see Kirigiri has deducted that, considering their circumstances, there was no reason to act against her. The other three, however, were a mix of hostile or afraid of the body builder, and the tension amongst the living students had never been higher.

                “Short of someone on the outside figuring out how to get past Junko’s defenses there is no way in _hell_ this isn’t going to result in a body,” Mukuro had said of the situation sometime earlier. Sayaka had wanted to snap at her, thinking she was being callous about the situation, but there was a slight tinge of anger on her face as she spoke.

                _Maybe Chihiro’s right about her . . ._

                For what it was worth, the gathered dead students sided squarely with Sakura. She had revealed to the other students that something precious to her was being held hostage, most likely her family’s dojo, and that if she didn’t play along with the mastermind, people would die. Mukuro confirmed that it was probably an empty promise, as there had already been a slaughter at the dojo shortly before the killing game began. This didn’t sit well with the other three, but they had no way to tell Sakura she was being played for a fool.

                Even worse, tension was at an all-time high. Genocider Syo had attacked Asahina that morning (thankfully the wound wasn’t life-threatening) but everyone was on edge, including the ghosts. They were having a meeting in the dining hall as they tried to figure out what to do and where to go next when Sayaka had heard the scream.

                “You heard Leon? Where?” Kiyotaka asked.

                “Upstairs – _oh no!_ ” Not wasting another moment, Sayaka bolted from the dining room, her eyes wide with terror. _Leon needs help . . . and he’s upstairs . . . that must mean . . . that must mean . . ._ Memories from her own incident with the monsters flashed in her mind’s eyes. Watching Kiyotaka screaming in pain before her. Hearing the voices of her father and her friends. The pain that followed.

                She couldn’t let that happen to Leon, too!

                “Sayaka, wait up!”

                Sayaka could hear the others behind her but she didn’t slow down – she had to get there quickly! She raced up the second floor landing. She didn’t think she’d gone high enough yet, but as Leon’s scream echoed in her head she had one small piece of hope to cling to. _Leon was screaming for Sakura – he must be on the fourth floor or below, right?_

“SAYAKA!” Chihiro yelled.

                “ _He’s on a higher floor!_ ” Sayaka rounded the corner to the third floor stairwell.

                “You’re being an idiot! You couldn’t fight them last time, what the hell makes you think you can do it this time!?” Sayaka was surprised to see Mukuro was running in tandem with her up the third floor landing. She turned to the pop idol with a serious look in her eyes. “You lead the way but let me handle this, all right?”  
                Sayaka dumbly nodded as Kiyotaka (who was giving Chihiro a piggy back ride) caught up to them. The path to the fourth floor landing seemed impossibly long as they wound their way through the third floor, passing by a rather stoic looking Sakura. Sayaka’s eyes widened. “He’s got to be close! He was calling out for Sakura to help him!” She closed her eyes and let out a yell. “ _LEON!_ ”

                She didn’t get a response.

                “What if this is a trap!?” Kiyotaka shouted.

                “Too late now!” Mukuro said, bounding up ahead of the group.

                They reached the fourth floor landing. _Please Leon, please . . ._ Sayaka was nervous as she and Kiyotaka finally reached the fourth floor. Mukuro was standing several feet ahead of them, carrying a survival knife in each hand as she looked around. She motioned for them to be quiet as she advanced forward, her heels clicking against the tile floor as she disappeared around a corner. Chihiro gasped, clinging tighter to Kiyotaka as the three of them waited for the soldier to return.

                Not even a minute later Mukuro returned, looking defeated. She was, however, carrying something. “Sayaka,” she said, taking one of her hands and placing the object in it. Sayaka opened her hand and gasped, recognizing the lock and chain that Leon had been wearing around his neck as her eyes began to tear up.

                It had been silly gesture on his part, wanting to get them something “different” and “unique” for their six month anniversary that fit their personalities. The lock worked well with his usual punk sensibilities, and the silver key that unlocked it had be strung on a simple silver chain that fit more in line with her own sense of style. “ _See this, Sayaka? It’s the key to my heart!_ ” Leon had said, smiling brightly.

                _“Leon, you’re such a dork,_ ” she said with a laugh before kissing him in thanks. “ _I love it._ ”

                Sayaka wasn’t sure where her key necklace was, not since the World's Most Despair Inducing Incident had happened. There was a decent chance it had been stolen in the chaos, which had made her really upset. Leon had insisted it was okay, though, and that the most important thing was that they were both still okay. “ _Don’t worry about it. It just means you’re stuck with me forever, right?_ ”

                “ _Leon, that’s not how that works but I appreciate your enthusiasm.”_

_“Well, I mean like, now no one can open it . . . and . . . um . . . okay yeah you’re right.”_

“ _It’s still sweet,”_ she had said. “ _I have an idea – we’ll get another lock and key when we get out._ ”

                Sayaka stood there, clutching the lock in hand. Mukuro was looking at her apologetically, looking ashamed that she couldn’t save the baseball star. _I don’t know what your motives are, but I think Chihiro’s right – you really are trying, aren’t you?_ “Thank you for trying, Mukuro-chan,” she whispered. She gave the soldier a hug, taking the other girl by surprise. “Thank you.”

                The moment was shattered by an inhuman scream from the fifth floor.

                Chihiro’s eyes widened. “LEON!”

 

                It didn’t seem possible that Mondo would ever watch Leon in more agony than he had the evening of the athlete’s execution. It had to have been a horrible way to go, being stoned to death by hundreds of baseballs. Hell, even worse, those things were really freaking hard. Mondo hadn’t really played much baseball (mostly just playing with other kids in his neighborhood or playing catch with Daiya) but he had been hit by a stray ball or two – they hurt like hell.

                And yet, somehow, the scream the came out of Leon was inhuman. Mondo couldn’t even see what it was they had done to him all that well (there was some sort of a string that got cut, maybe?), but suddenly his friend was howling as he was dragged out of the dojo. The biker didn’t even have time to process what the hell was going on before he was shoved forward towards the same spot his friend had been in moments ago.

                His eyes went wide. Even if he hadn’t gotten a clear picture of what had happened to Leon, he’d seen enough of the aftermath to know he wanted to get the fuck out of there. He eyed the circle on the floor and the hooded figure with the blade as he struggled, trying to muscle his way out or somehow, anyhow, shock them, just like he’d done to the one back in Celes’ courtroom.

                But just like when he and Leon had been snatched not even an hour ago, it didn’t work.

                _Maybe I’m too afraid of it because it’s what killed me?_ Mondo didn’t have the time to ponder the thought, though – all of his struggling was fruitless, and he was pushed into the circle of red stones. He tried to get out but it was no use – he’d watched Leon struggle against the invisible walls and he wasn’t having any better luck. He turned his head to face the hooded figure just as he went completely limp.

                _Fuck. This._

                As if being pulled by invisible strings, Mondo was pulled upwards until he was hanging in midair. His arms were stretched out to either side of him, and no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t move so much as a hair. The hooded figure glided over to him, and he got a look inside of the hood. He saw an emptiness so horrifying he was having trouble believing what he was seeing, and he wanted to scream.

                But then he felt himself relax, and then he heard a voice he thought he’d never hear again.

                _Oi, dumbass! Get the fuck out of there!_

Mondo felt himself start to cry. “D, Daiya?” he asked. There was no question in his mind. It had to be him! He was dead, too, so of course it made sense! Daiya Oowada, his beloved older brother, the man who’d practically raised him, had come looking for him in the afterlife! He choked back a sob. “Daiya! Daiya, where are you?!” He could hear his brother but he couldn’t see him. Where was he?

                _Mondo, there’s no time for that! You have to run! You have to get out of there!_

_“Daiya, Daiya I’m sorry! I’m sorry I got you killed! I’m such a fuck up I-“_

_MONDO! FOR FUCK’S SAKE!_ Daiya’s voice cut him off and he paused, choking back another sob. He barely felt something come out of his chest and only half paid-attention to the floating red string. _You idiot! I forgave you back when it happened! But we’ll talk about this later – you CAN’T let that thing cut your red string!_

“Wh, what?” Mondo asked.

                _If that string gets cut, you can’t go to the afterlife! You need to get out of there now!_

“The afterlife?” _Daiya, I killed someone before I died – are we sure I’m going to the good place?_

                Mondo was starting to hear desperation in Daiya’s voice. _It’s kind of like in those stories about the red string of fate or something, but that’s not important right now! The important part is that after you die you’re supposed to follow it to get to the other side! If something happens to it then you_ can’t _find your way to the afterlife! And if you can’t- MONDO!_

                Mondo felt the hooded figure pull the string coming from his chest and he stared in horror ahead of him. It was raising the sword, ready to slice, and he started to panic. If what Daiya was saying was true, then that meant . . .  that meant . . .

                “ _Daiya!”_

_MONDO! MON-_

Suddenly Mondo couldn’t hear his brother’s voice anymore, but he could feel a horrible pain surging throughout his entire body as he collapsed in a heap on the floor, clutching his chest in pain. Above him hovered the hooded figure, clutching his limp, lifeless red string of fate in his ghostly white hand. Mondo let out a wail of despair as he cried out desperately for his brother, but he heard no response.

                Never before had Mondo ever felt so completely and utterly alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DING DANG DING DONG! Author’s Announcements!
> 
> Hoo-boy, this one took forever to get out @_@ Part of this is because I had some convention prep to take care of (I am an Artist Alley artist) and yes that will happen in the future as well.
> 
> Received help on this chapter (and the past several) from hunterofcomedy (who is currently more than a little obsessed with the mashed potatoes conversation between Mondo and Leon at the moment). Also, if you aren’t already, he’s started posting a fic I’ve been helping him with called Never Say Never that should be updating around the same time you’re seeing this. There’s some amazing material in there, including some stuff both of us should probably be personally ashamed of coming up in later chapter. You should definitely go read it.
> 
> Song Choice: “Love Runs Out” by OneRepublic. Love was a big thing this chapter and a lot of stuff also kind of “ran out” as well. Not a perfect fit for the chapter but there will probably be a lot of chapters were the fit isn’t perfect.
> 
> -Dixxy


	13. Lost For Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura's suicide echoes throughout the school.

Haunted

By Dixxy Mouri

Chapter 12: Lost For Words

 

                It was cold comfort that they didn’t hear Hifumi or Celes’ screaming from the fifth floor.

                Kiyotaka felt numb. He still wasn’t sure how to feel about those two. Sayaka was willing to forgive Leon – she’d been the one who started it and seemed to blame herself for the incident, and no matter what they had done to each other, she still loved him. Chihiro forgave Mondo, too – the stress of the second motive and their situation in general had taken its toll on him, just like Junko had planned, but his cover up to try and protect their little sister had clearly meant a lot to her.

                And then there was Celes’ . . . “accusation”, compounded by Hifumi taking their argument so seriously (which Kiyotaka could barely remember – had they really argued about it that much? Everything after Mondo’s execution was still a blur to him). He wasn’t sure who to be angrier with. He didn’t know if he should have been angry with them at all. Hadn’t they fallen to prey to Junko’s game just like Leon and Mondo had? Hadn’t it been so easy for Sayaka and Chihiro to forgive them? Maybe he should be angry at himself for being so weak and crumbling in the wake of Mondo’s execution. He briefly wondered if Celes’ accusation was true, though Chihiro had confirmed he hadn’t. _“Sayaka, Leon and I kept a close eye on you until the wolf monster chased us into the gym, and I think by then Celes had already convinced Hifumi to go along with her plan._ ”

                Still, he was conflicted. Maybe it was because Leon and Sayaka had been dating before and Chihiro and Mondo had already been so close. It wasn’t like he wasn’t friends with Celes or Hifumi, but close? Not really. Occasionally they studied together and Kiyotaka had volunteered to pose for the artist a few times if he needed a visual reference for something, but it wasn’t as if the three of them hung out regularly or anything. He spent most of his spare time with Mondo and Chihiro, and Celes and Hifumi tended to spend a lot of time together on their own.

                Not that Kiyotaka would have preferred to meet his end at Mondo or Chihiro’s hands or do anything to harm either of them. He didn’t want any of this killing game to be real, none of them did, not even Mukuro, it seemed, but he felt like the odd man out. He only felt like he should forgive them because everyone else had forgiven their killers, but they obviously wanted to. Really, when he thought about it, Kiyotaka didn’t think he wanted to – at least not right then and there.

                What was more pressing, however, was the howling they’d heard from Leon and Mondo just moments earlier. He and Sayaka knew what that was, and for a moment he could feel that pain again, his knees getting weak from the memory. In some ways the red string being cut, whatever it had been, haunted him more than the moment Hifumi had crushed his skull. Maybe it was because he still didn’t understand what the string had been, whereas he fully understood his death.

                Leon had been crying out for his parents, which wasn’t too much of a surprise. Most of them missed their parents, with only a few exceptions for those who really didn’t have them or, if they did, had bad relationships with them. However, the name of the elder Oowada brother rang through the halls for the other prisoner. Of course Daiya was the one that Mondo heard. He barely knew his mother and never even met his father. Maybe, maybe he’d hear some of the other Crazy Diamonds, Kiyotaka supposed, but Daiya made the most sense. Daiya was the only one he’d be screaming for like that.

                It didn’t make him feel any better about it.

                Their little group had retreated to the faculty office to try and calm down and figure out what to do. Mukuro and Sayaka were sitting cross-legged on one of the tables while he and Chihiro sat next to each other on a pair of pulled out chairs. The programmer had been a complete wreck when she heard Mondo’s screams and was just now calming back down, leaning forward with her arms crossed. Kiyotaka was rubbing her back, trying to find a way to soothe her.

                “So that’s it then – we have to wait for another murder to do _anything_ ,” said Sayaka. “We can’t get to Hifumi and Celes without the elevator. We can’t get to Leon and Mondo unless the gate opens up.” She was still clutching her boyfriend’s lock and chain, a sad and defeated look in her eyes. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel right now. I don’t want to leave them stuck like that but I don’t want anyone else to die.”

                “Junko’s going to keep feeding them motives until there’s a winner, or not enough people to hold a trial. Then even I don’t know what she’s going to do,” Mukuro said stoically. “Not sure how she’s going to determine when that happens. After a while there just aren’t enough people to make it interesting for her anymore.”

                “Excuse me?” Sayaka asked.

                “Junko thrives on despair, but the only thing she hates more than hope is boredom. If it gets to a point where the trial won’t be interesting because there aren’t enough people to make it so, she will get bored and something nasty will happen. I just don’t know what,” said Mukuro. Chihiro whimpered in response.

                “What if someone gets in from the outside? This is being broadcast, right?”

                “There are turrets outside the school entrances. As of the day you, Leon and I are died I’m not aware of them being used. That’s probably changed since that morning,” said Mukuro. “Eight people are dead and unless someone manages to get into the school _now_ then there will probably be at least two more.” She closed her eyes. “That will leave five survivors – that might be few enough for Junko to start getting bored with the trials.”

                “Does that mean this is it?” asked Chihiro.

                “I think that question has already been answered for half our class, Chihiro,” said Sayaka.

                “It still doesn’t seem . . . real,” said Kiyotaka. “It still feels like it’s all a nightmare. We went to this school because we were the best of the best . . . it was supposed to secure our futures. Now we don’t have any futures. We’re just a bunch of broken promises . . . what could have been.” He crossed his legs.

                “We had so much we wanted to do with our lives,” said Chihiro. “We were supposed to change the world. But . . . I think that may have ended when the world ended. Not when the game began.” Kiyotaka and the other two looked at Chihiro in question. “I know Junko’s left her mark on the world, but what were the rest of us supposed to do just sitting around in the school?”

                “She’s right,” said Sayaka. “We agreed to possibly live the rest of our lives in Hope’s Peak.”

                “Even if Junko hadn’t started the killing game our lives were already over, weren’t they?” said Kiyotaka. “No other friends, no family, no careers, no getting married or having kids . . . nothing. We would have all gotten old just sitting around waiting for the last of us to die.” He lowered his head and ran his hands into his hair.

                The silence that hung in the air was oppressing and thick, making the shout from downstairs all the more jarring. The four ghosts looked up in unison. That cackling laugh could only belong to Toko’s alternate personality, Genocider Syo. Kiyotaka felt his hands begin to shake. _No. Not again. Oh please no, not again!_

                Mukuro was already heading to the door. “Are you guys coming or not?” she said solemnly.

                “I don’t . . . I don’t want to watch anymore of my friends die!” Sayaka shouted.

                Chihiro slowly pushed herself out of her chair, walking to the soldier as if in a daze.

                Kiyotaka somehow managed a compose himself and got up, extending a hand to the pop idol. “I know. It’s tough. But we need to warn whoever died . . . if anyone is going to die . . .  about what’s going on around here. I didn’t get that warning and look what happened to me.” Sayaka stared at Kiyotaka through teary eyes before nodding her head. Mukuro and Chihiro had already left the room as the pop idol slid off the table and Kiyotaka laid a friendly hand on her shoulder.

                “Thank you,” she said softly.

 

                Mukuro was relieved. Sakura had been the one who had been attacked but she was still alive. Injured and bleeding, but still alive. Of course Asahina was frantically looking her over – even with their memories gone, it was still clear that on some level they still loved each other very much. The soldier couldn’t help but smile a little.

                _Even here, even in Junko’s game of despair, love persists._

                “That’s a relief. Sakura doesn’t look seriously injured so she should be fine, right?” said Chihiro.

                “What happened?” Mukuro hadn’t gotten a chance to respond to Chihiro before Kiyotaka and Sayaka entered the rec room. Kiyotaka had been the one to voice the concern, and his eyes widened in shock as he saw the state the martial artist was in. “Someone attacked Sakura-san?” Sayaka covered her mouth with her hands in shock.

                “Yeah, it sounds like Genocider Syo panicked and attacked her. She survived the hit,” said Mukuro. She held her tongue on any further comment about Sakura’s attack, recalling how both Kiyotaka and Chihiro had died. Neither party seemed to pay that any mind, and for a moment Mukuro was relieved. “This may actually be a good thing.”

                “What?” Sayaka asked in disbelief.

                “It’ll probably break the tension,” said Mukuro. She closed her eyes and crossed her arms as Sakura politely asked the swimmer to get her some protein while she sat down to rest. “Everyone will get a reminder about what would have happened if Sakura died and then they’ll probably cut it out . . . at least until my little sister comes up with something else.”

                The other ghosts all saw Mukuro’s point and seemed to be relieved as well. Maybe she was right. For now, at least, it looked like the seven remaining students would live to see another day. Sakura hadn’t been killed and once everything came to light they’d all probably sit down, talk about it, and continue living.

                Asahina left the rec room while Sakura remained seated, a contemplative look on her face.

                “We should probably stay here a few minutes more to keep an eye on her,” said Kiyotaka.

                “To do what?” asked Mukuro.     
                “I, um, I know we’re dead but . . . just to make sure she’s okay,” said Kiyotaka. “Right?”

                Not two seconds after Kiyotaka spoke did Sakura stand up and grab a chair. Mukuro cocked her head to the side. Chihiro, Kiyotaka, and Sayaka all looked just as confused. “What’s she doing?” asked Chihiro. “Isn’t she supposed to be resting right now? I know it’s Sakura but she was just attacked by a serial killer.”

                The chair was jammed under the doorknob, creating a makeshift lock for the otherwise unlockable door. Mukuro felt her back tense up. _Something’s not right here. What the hell is she doing?_ Sakura tested it, seeming to confirm that it wasn’t moving. “She’s . . . locking everyone else out of the rec room? But why would she do that?” asked Sayaka.

                “Maybe she’s afraid someone will try to attack her again?” asked Chihiro.

                “But she’s more than capable of defending herself, right?” asked Kiyotaka.

                “Maybe she thinks she’s too strong and might kill someone in self-defense,” Sayaka said quietly.

                “No, that’s not it,” said Mukuro, studying Sakura carefully. The martial artist had taken a meditative stance and was quietly saying something to herself that the soldier couldn’t quite make out, but Sayaka obviously could. The pop idol began to shriek, immediately launching herself at the martial artist in a panic.

                “ _No! Oh God, Sakura, NO! SAKURA!_ ”

                Mukuro watched as Sakura produced a small brown bottle that Sayaka was now desperately trying to claw out of the martial artist’s hands, but to no avail. “Sayaka?” asked Kiyotaka. “What . . . what’s going on?” Chihiro was frozen in place, her eyes fixated on the bottle. “Chihiro? Chihiro, what’s in that bottle?”

                “That’s . . . that’s . . . that’s from the chemistry lab . . .” Chihiro stuttered.

                That was all it took for everyone to understand the gravity of their situation. Kiyotaka crumpled to his knees, his face plastered with horror while Mukuro shot forward to try and help Sayaka. _Don’t you dare, don’t you DARE!_ Mukuro thought to herself. But they couldn’t get a grip on the bottle, not with Sayaka flailing about in her own desperate bid for the vial.

                Junko had fantasized to Mukuro about a number of situations she’d wanted to see play out in the killing game. Various kinds of murders. All the motives she wanted to try. Various tragic combinations of victim and killer. Even the act of being forced to execute the innocent students in the event one of the murderers was actually able to get away with it. But never in Junko’s wildest dreams had she imagined one of their classmates would actually try to do _this_.

                _Suicide._

                “ _Stop! Stop it!_ ” Sayaka screamed.

                “S, Sakura . . .” Chihiro stuttered.

                Kiyotaka was stunned to silence, unable to say or do anything.

                Sakura lifted the bottle out of Sayaka and Mukuro’s reach. This was the point where the pop idol fell to her knees and started bawling her eyes out, but the soldier wasn’t ready to give up. She started to climb. She got up on the chair behind Sakura. She was going to get that bottle. She could not let her drink what was in that bottle!

                Mukuro’s hand closed around the bottle and for a moment she felt victorious, but her ghostly hand could do nothing. She lost her balance and fell forward, falling over the back of the chair and landing in a heap on the floor. Sakura hadn’t even struggled to pull it away from her, and the reality of the rules of the dead sunk in. They could touch objects, but not move them. Even a feather lying on the ground was an immovable object to the ghosts, and the bottle was no different.

                It had been a meaningless effort.

                The ghosts watched helplessly as the martial artist pressed the opening to her lips. “No . . .” Mukuro said in disbelief, watching as Sakura’s throat expanded and contracted with the motion of her swallowing, followed by the bottle dropping to the floor. It clattered and spun, rolling several feet until it stopped just before the door.

                Chihiro collapsed next to Kiyotaka and started to cry herself. Sayaka was weeping into her hands, and Mukuro stared at Sakura in disbelief. She’d failed. She hadn’t been able to do it, and now there was nothing anyone could do for her. Even if Asahina came back before Sakura was gone, there was no way they’d be able to find an antidote or be able to save her. She was a dead woman walking, and it was only a matter of minutes, if not moments, until she was gone.

                Mukuro pushed herself up into a sitting position as Sakura doubled over, coughing and choking on the poison. For a moment, she had the slightest glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, Sakura was going to survive. What if her body expelled the poison? She was so strong, her body might force it out of her. But the coughing started to slow down, and it was clear that it wasn’t going to happen. The poison was going to stay in her body, and she didn’t have any time left.

 

                Sakura was surprised when she could suddenly hear crying.

                Just moments ago, as she breathed what should have been her last breath, she’d been completely alone in the rec room – just like she’d planned. Why could she hear crying? Had Asahina gotten back already? No, no there was no way she’d would have gotten back by now. More so, that didn’t sound like the swimmer’s voice at all.

                Opening her eyes, she was stunned at what she saw before her. The victims of the earlier murders . . . Sayaka-san, Chihiro-san, and Kiyotaka-san. But all three of them should have been dead. She’d seen their bodies herself, she’d even had to place her hands on Chihiro’s lifeless corpose when confirming their sex.

                But all three of them were . . . translucent. She could clearly see them, but she could also see right _through_ them. Sayaka-san was openly sobbing into her hands while Chihiro-san sobbed into the shoulder of a stunned Kiyotaka-san. She got to her feet as it slowly dawned on her the full extent of what had just transpired.

                Her suicide had been successful, and these three had been forced to watch.

                “W, why . . .” Kiyotaka-san asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

                Sakura took a few steps forward before looking back at her corpse. She was in a sitting position, a smile on her face as traces of pink blood was still slowly drizzling down her chin. It was a gruesome sight, but perhaps more peaceful than the previous scenes. After all, she had ended things on her terms with the least possible amount of blood shed. Asahina would soon find her suicide note. Her death would eliminate all remaining tension between the students, and maybe somehow they’d be able to find a way . . . out of the school . . .

                Her eyes widened as two years of memories flooded her brain. She froze in place. _Two years?! The Mastermind had told me some of our memories had been removed but . . . an entire two years?! How is that . . . how is that possible?!_ Memories of their core class of sixteen meeting for the first time and how uneasy everyone was for the first week. Memories of little by little they started to find common ground and form friendships and romances. Memories of all the times they spent together as students, as classmates, within the walls of Hope’s Peak Academy.

                She felt weak in the knees for a moment and steadied herself with the arm of the chair.

                _What . . . what is this? What is this?!_

Sakura could hear something behind the chair her corpse sat in and saw a fourth spirit in the room with her. It took her a moment to recognize Mukuro Ikusaba, the Super High School Level Soldier, staring up at her with defeat in her eyes. _Of course. There were sixteen of us. So that was what Monokuma meant when he referred to the sixteenth student . . . but she’s . . ._

                She felt a gently hand pat her shoulder. She turned to see Kiyotaka-san staring at her with a sober, sullen face. Sakura closed her eyes. Kiyotaka-san was usually so sure of himself, confident, and full of enthusiasm. But now, standing before her as nothing more than a specter, he mostly looked tired and defeated. “We . . . have a lot to fill you in on, Sakura,” he said. “But . . . why?”

                Sakura took a deep breath. Of course they deserved an answer. “I had no idea you were there.”

                She knew she had dodged his question, and if this had been before the end of the world, she knew he would have called her out and demanded a straight answer from her. Instead he just closed his eyes and turned his head. Sayaka and Chihiro were slowly getting to their feet and she could hear Mukuro’s shuffling steps joining the others.

                “We should probably talk about this somewhere else,” the soldier said quietly.

                Sakura was about to quietly agree, already thinking of her own questions, when they all heard Asahina begin screaming outside the rec room and slamming her fists into the door. Sakura looked up, a look of alarm on her face as her friend began begging and pleading for her to wake up. Tears were streaming from her eyes as she wailed, a piece of paper clutched in her hand. Sakura wanted to tell her it was all right, that she’d done this to save everyone else and that she shouldn’t cry, but she knew the price of her sacrifice.

                _Even if it means making . . . you . . . cry . . ._

                “Sakura . . .”

                Sakura stepped towards the rec room door, only now realizing that tears were streaming down her face. Now, now that she was dead, now that the memories she had somehow lost were returning to her, did she finally understand how she and Asahina had bonded so quickly and so immediately, and that truth hurt so much it threatened to kill her all over again.

                _If I had remembered . . . if I had known . . . I would have said I love you one last time . . ._

 

                _Ding-dang-ding-dong!_

_“A body had been discovered!”_

                “Seriously? Again?” Mondo asked. His voice was strained and he looked even paler than before.

                Leon listened to the rest of the announcement as the pre-taped message played throughout the school. He clenched his eyes shut, huddled in the fetal position as he tried to cope with the still intense pain from where the hooded . . . thing . . . had cut the string from his chest. It wasn’t as bad as it had been earlier, but it still felt like it was throbbing.

                Mondo had said his brother told him it was their only way to get to the afterlife.

                And now it was gone, and he and the biker were tossed into the bio lab, which looked more like a morgue (and probably _was_ a morgue). It was cold and creepy and lonesome, even with Mondo just a few feet away. He was afraid of what was going to come next, now that the afterlife wasn’t an option for him anymore.

                Leon heard his parents begging, pleading with him to escape, telling him he needed to hurry, and now he understood why. It was worse than when he’d found out they’d been killed. Even in his grief then, he’d probably believed on some level that he would see them again, even if it was going to be a long time before that happened. But now? Now the idea that he really _wasn’t_ going to see them ever again filled him with more despair than he thought possible, even after the World's Most Despair Inducing Incident and going through everything Junko had put them through.

                But the unknown was somehow, someway, even worse. If what Daiya said was true, it only raised more questions than it answered. Why would those . . . things . . . do this to them? Why keep them locked up like this? There had to be more to it than just cutting them off from the afterlife, and Leon was terrified of the answer to that question.

                _This isn’t fair . . . this was all supposed to keep us safe . . . Headmaster Kirigiri promised us . . ._

_Headmaster Kirigiri . . ._

_. . . Headmaster . . ._

“. . . that’s right . . .” Leon said aloud.

                “Huh?”

                “. . . Headmaster Kirigiri is missing, too,” said Leon.

                Mondo grunted, then got quiet. “Yeah, you’re right,” he said. “Hifumi said he was dead.”

                “So he should be here, too, right?” He sighed. “Sayaka and I didn’t remember his execution so we didn’t know he was dead or that, y’know, we should look for him.” He lowered his head. “Then again, I think he would have sought us out in return. You know? He did this because he wanted to protect us. Would that change just because he was dead?”

                “Don’t know.”

                “So then we need to find out what happened to him, too!”

                The biker grunted. “Mukuro and Kyoudai are missing, too. You forget that?”

                Leon winced. He had almost forgotten about those two, given their current predicament. “Well, Mukuro is probably hiding from everyone because, with our memories back, we’d recognize her, right? So I think she probably didn’t want to be found. And I don’t want to think about what probably happened to Kiyotaka but . . .  look, I know we can’t do anything about it but . . . I don’t know it just came to me!”

                Mondo was quiet as he mulled this over. “Fucking hell.” He grunted. “Just fucking _hell_.”

                Leon realized that raising this realization hadn’t helped this situation. There was nothing he or Mondo could do to find their headmaster – all he’d done was add to their despair. He clenched his eyes shut. _Why? Why? Why is this happening to us? What did we do to deserve this? What the hell drove Junko and Mukuro to do this?! Why . . ._

_. . . why . . ._

                Leon and Mondo had vanished, and there had been another body discovery announcement.

                “You would think they’d learn after seeing three class trials that it wouldn’t end well,” Celes said quietly. She and Hifumi had reached the bottom trial floor in their search for Leon and Mondo when they heard the announcement. It was one of three rooms they couldn’t figure out the owner of, but after taking a mental roll call Hifumi realized there were extras. One of them had an Ancient Egypt theme to it with a lonely construction site where the execution ground should have been. Another resembled the inside of a nightclub and featured some sort of contraption that looked like a sea-saw of doom – Hifumi theorized this trial room was probably created in the event two people worked together to kill two people, like he had assumed he and Celes were planning on doing.

                Something felt very wrong about this room though. Everything was metal and gray, and there were several large monitors on the walls of the trial room. As for the execution, it looked like there were bits and pieces to every execution Junko had planned out at the ready. Neither of them wanted to theorize what this room was for at all.

                “I really hope Master Yasuhiro Hagakure isn’t the killer,” Hifumi said dryly.

                “Hifumi, it would be horrible if _any_ of our friends killed someone else!” Celes snapped.

                “But his trial room is at the top of the courthouse,” Hifumi whined, glancing upwards.

                Celes sighed. “Regardless we need to figure out which trial room is going to be used if we wish to get out of here.” She crossed her arms. “Even if we don’t meet any of the other . . . spirits . . . there, we need to find a way out of the courthouse.” She gestured for Hifumi to follow her to the stairs. “The investigation will probably be ending soon. And even if you don’t want to, we should begin to head upwards – we’ll either hear the elevator or the trial itself eventually.”

                “R, right,” said Hifumi.

                The two began the quiet ascent, quietly counting the floors as they went. All told there were 18 floors beneath the school, each containing a unique courtroom. Celes wondered how such a structure had come to be – Junko couldn’t have built this on her own, could she? _Or . . . is this something that was always beneath the school? But how could a school, even Hope’s Peak Academy, possibly need this many basement floors?_

                _I . . . suppose it doesn’t matter much now. Hope’s Peak Academy is no more._

They ascended the court house for a long time, floor after floor – not having bodies anymore meant they didn’t get tired, at least not in the same way, so their climb to the top wasn’t hard. It was more a general, emotional exhaustion that they felt, which Celes supposed made a fair bit of sense. They didn’t have bodies anymore, so perhaps that was the only kind of fatigue they could have anymore.

                Suddenly, Celes found herself stopped as someone grabbed her hand from behind. “Hifumi why did- EEE!”

                There, on the landing, was a huge black and white wolf. It was staring at them, fiercely swatting its tail behind as it dug its claws into the floor of the landing. It stared at them through a single, beady black eye from the white half of its body and a gruesome red gash from the black half. It growled at them, baring its teeth for them to see. 

                “Th, th, that’s the monster the others told me about!” HIfumi shrieked.

                Celes’ eyes widened, and for a moment she was frozen in fear. Its body resembled Monokuma’s, right down the gash over its left eye and the seamless split down the middle of its body. It was enormous, the size of a large tiger and could have easily overpowered either of them. She looked it up and down, knowing that her heart would have been racing if it was still beating.

                “T, Taeko . . .” Hifumi was trembling in terror as he hid behind her. “D, do the thing!”

                Celes nervously raised her hand, holding it out in front of her. It was their only chance.

                But nothing was happening.

                The gambler swallowed nervously. She couldn’t feel her hand warming up to burn the wolf. Whatever had helped them earlier after her execution was not making a repeat performance. _I wonder if this is what happened to Mondo and Leon and why they disappeared . . ._  “I, I don’t think it’s working . . .” she said quietly.

                This was apparently the wrong thing to say to Hifumi.

                “HIFUMI WITHDREW TAEKO-CHAN FROM BATTLE! HIFUMI RAN FROM BATTLE!”

                With very little warning, Hifumi had grabbed Celes’ hand and bolted into the nearest courtroom (which happened to be Leon’s – it remained completely unchanged from the very first class trial), prompting the wolf to give chase. The gambler was taken by surprise, both by how suddenly everything was happening but also by how quick Hifumi was on his feet. “HIFUMI WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!? YOU’RE GOING TO GET US KILLED!”

                “WE’RE ALREADY DEAD! I’M TRYING TO GET US AWAY SAFELY!”

                Hifumi led them in a circle around the trial room, the wolf monster following them the whole time. Celes kept looking back, terrified of the creature as it chased them. However, something about the beast seemed . . . off. It was less like it was trying to hunt them . . . more like it was trying to herd them, like a cattle rancher driving his livestock.

                _But where is it trying to make us go?_

                Hifumi led them back out of the courtroom. “HIFUMI!” Celes screamed.

                “I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO! THAT WASN’T WORKING – EYAHHH!!”

                Celes shrieked as she saw what Hifumi was yelling at – two of the other monsters, the huge people shaped ones. They skidded to a halt, suddenly trapped between the wolf monster and the other beings. The other beings grinned, lumbering towards them and reaching for them. They skidded to a halt, clinging to each other in fear.

                ”Hi, Hifumi . . .” Celes clung to him tighter, and then something inside her snapped as she started to bawl. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry I lied to you! I’m sorry I made you kill Kiyotaka! I’m sorry I used you! I’m sorry I killed you! I’m sorry I sacrificed you for a stupid fucking pile of money!” Celes wailed. “This is my fault . . . this is _my fault! We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for my selfishness! I’M SORRY!_ ”

                Her apology hung in the air like a fog for several moments, and for a second it seemed as if time had stopped. Hifumi’s eyes were locked with her own, and for a split second he smiled at her, just like old times, and for a brief fleeting second Celes thought it was somehow going to be okay again, just like it had been before the world ended.

                The monsters lunged for them.

                The wolf leapt across the room.

                Celes and Hifumi clenched their eyes shut, waiting for the worst.

                There was a horrible scream, but Celes was stunned when it didn’t belong to her or Hifumi. The pair looked to where the monsters had been and were shocked to see the wolf monster had torn out the throat of one and was engaged in a heated battle with the other. “What?” Celes asked in shock. “Why are they fighting each other?!”

                Hifumi didn’t hesitate any longer. “That doesn’t matter! We need to find the elevator _now!_ ” The doujinshi artist led them back down the stairs, neither wanting to look back at the scene behind them. Their descent went faster than their ascent, and it was only until they could hear the clunking of the elevator and the soft murmur of voices that they realized the elevator was descending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DING DANG DING DONG! Author’s Announcements!
> 
> Sorry this one took so long. It was obviously a delicate chapter and I’ve have a lot going on the past few months @_@
> 
> So this was was supposed to be all serious due to Sakura’s suicide (which I have a complicated relationship with Sakura from a writer’s perspective – she’s a bit too on the ball which can be awkward to approach as a writer), but on the advice of my beta, hunterofcomedy, I needed to add something to lighten the mood a little after everything that happened to everyone else this chapter, so a little bit of light humor with Celes and Hifumi was added at the end. 
> 
> Lastly, if you aren’t already, go look up hunterofcomedy’s stuff. His long fic, Never Say Never, is something like a combination of Danganronpa: IF crossed with the first game (it’s great, go read it) and “The Ultimate Hope”, in which Junko’s plans backfire in the best or worst way possible. 
> 
> Song Choice: “Lost for Words” by Pink Floyd. I am kind of surprised nothing from The Division Bell has ended up a chapter title for this story yet because most of the album is . . . well kind of depressing if you pay attention to the lyrics, but it’s an album I grew up with. My father was a bit into Pink Floyd and this was their final studio album so yeah it got played a lot around my house. Another song on this album, “High Hopes”, has nearly made it into this story twice now (this chapter and the prologue) so it’ll probably end up somewhere EVENTUALLY because it keeps coming up, but “Lost for Words” just fit this one too well. 
> 
> Dixxy


	14. Dream On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura remembers her relationship with Hina. Celes and Hifumi witness something unexpected. Mukuro isn't used to people trying to comfort her, which Kiyotaka learns the hard way.

Haunted

By Dixxy Mouri

Chapter Thirteen: Dream On

 

EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! Author’s Announcements!  
  
Hey guys, so although there are a number of things I want to fix with this story, one thing I REALLY want to fix is how I’m using names so for now please roll with me as I work out the naming conventions for everyone. Eventually I’ll probably go back and edit to make things match up better but yeah, going between different translations and getting “used” to certain conventions messed a few things up for me along the way.  

 

                Somehow, the events surrounding Sakura’s suicide had managed to get even worse.  

                Although she had been allowed to explain herself to Sayaka, Chihiro, Taka, and Mukuro, there was still an underlying discomfort amongst the four of them during her explanation. Having to witness her taking her own life must have been hard enough, but it also occurred to her that all of the gathered spirits had been victims of murder (or, at least she assumed Mukuro had been murdered – she still didn’t have an explanation for the soldier’s death yet) and here she was, having ended her own life, not at the hands of one of the other survivors.

                And indeed, the gravity of what she had done had begun to weigh heavily on Sakura as well. It had seemed like, while perhaps not a “good idea at the time”, but in some ways the only available option. She couldn’t bring herself to kill any of the remaining six students, but she couldn’t stomach the idea that Monokuma was going to do something to her family’s dojo if she failed to act, either. And when it occurred to her that the bear had never said she couldn’t kill herself, and that the tensions amongst the rest of the students were increasing with each murder, she felt that there wasn’t anything else she could do. Everyone else was on edge and if it wasn’t her, someone else was going to kill again and condemn not only their victim, but either themselves or the remaining survivors. Sakura couldn’t bear the thought and realized there was no way out without a little more bloodshed.

                But now she was questioning her decision. She’d thought she’d eliminated the possibility of witnesses, but she’d had four of them. She’d had no idea that the memories the mastermind had stolen from them were more than just a few days at most but closer to a whole two years. And she’d had no idea that Hina had been more than just a bubbly fellow classmate to her . . . more than just a close friend . . .

                Back when they had really started classes at the academy, things between Class 78 had started off . . . less than ideal. Most of them were stand-offish with each other (with the occasional screaming match between Mondo and Kiyotaka or callously cruel comment from Byakuya, who just assumed he was better than everyone else) and most of friendships that formed were tenuous at best. Even Makoto, the only one who seemed to be able to get along at least a little bit with everyone, seemed to spend most of his time with Sayaka due to having gone to the same junior high.

                Sakura could feel the eyes of her classmates on her from the very first day, with a mix of fear and disgust over who she was, what she was. It was nothing new – she’d been getting strange looks from her classmates since she started body building to become a stronger fighter – but it was something she wasn’t quite sure she’d ever get used to. Never mind that she was a girl and girls weren’t “supposed” to be as physically strong as she was, but she was one of the strongest people in the whole world – of course they were intimidated by her.

                All except for Hina.

                Sakura wasn’t sure what it was that drew the swimmer to her, but there she was, having lunch with her on their first day – their first _real_ day – at Hope’s Peak, cheerfully building the foundation of their friendship. It was foreign but familiar – she hadn’t been treated like this in a long time, and it was refreshing. People had a tendency to forget she was still a teenager with interests in girly things in addition to her love for the martial arts.

                She smiled, and asked her if she wanted to work out after classes were done for the day.

                And thus began their friendship. They helped each other with their homework, spent time together working out or reading girly magazines, and just doing general “girl stuff” together. Hina tried to teach her some of the finer points of competitive swimming, and Sakura began to teach her friend basic self-defense (which initially involved bribing Leon with food to be their “practice dummy” until he started spending more time with Sayaka, then they used Makoto).

                And then something unexpected happened one day. Sakura didn’t even remember the exact circumstances it had all been so surreal, but they had been running laps early one morning when Hina tripped and fell. When Sakura went to check on her their faces were . . . closer than she had planned on them being, and for a moment everything around them was frozen and silent like the first snow of winter.

                Their eyes had locked and she could feel Hina’s warm breath on her cheek, and Sakura felt her herself blush. She couldn’t move, and despite being the world’s strongest woman she was positive even someone like Chihiro could have gotten the drop on her. Their eyes locked, and Sakura realized Hina couldn’t move either.

                They kissed.  
                Sakura had never been attracted to another woman before. She’d been holding a torch for Kenshiro for some time now, and she’d had the normal teenage girl crushes on this boy band member or that actor off and on before, but never a woman. Idols like Sayaka or models like Junko had never registered with Sakura as objects of her desire before and it was . . . making a lot more sense than she realized. Maybe it was because the right woman hadn’t come around before Hina, but Sakura was beginning to think that maybe she was attracted to women, too.

                Hina and Sakura kept things as low key as they could, but found this was possibly backfiring. Someone asked if there was anything wrong between the two of them, which made them realize they’d been trying TOO hard to stay apart and it was causing more unwanted attention. So they tried to strike a balance between acting the way they had been behaving before with how they wanted to behave now. No one batted an eye if Hina leaned on Sakura’s shoulder or the two were seen hugging, as everyone marked it up to just the two girls being friends and nothing more.

                No one knew that when no one was looking they were holding hands or kissing or cuddling while watching movies on Hina’s laptop. By the time a month or so had passed most of the tension in their class had completely dispelled and everyone was, more or less, on friendly terms. They let everyone stay preoccupied with Leon and Sayaka’s budding romance, or the unexpected friendships of Mondo, Chihiro, and Kiyotaka or Hifumi and Celes.

                At some point someone found them out. Someone took pictures of the two of them kissing after a very early morning jog and used the photos to make several fliers than were wallpapered around the school one Sunday morning. Horrible language describing them was emblazoned in bold, crimson letters – Hina fell to her knees and started crying when she saw them for the first time. Sakura felt angry and disgusted, her stomach twisting itself into knots – she remembered wanting to punch something or someone, but she didn’t know who to be angry with.

                Then she saw Makoto carrying a small stack of the fliers, a worried look on his face as he tore them down from the walls. He saw the two of them and hurried over, asking them if they were okay. When Sakura asked what he was doing, he told them that they were “taking care of it” and that they didn’t need to worry. She and Hina didn’t understand at first, but as the day progressed, they understood.

                Makoto was far from the only classmate they saw tearing down fliers. At various points throughout the day they saw Hiro, Toko, Celes, Sayaka, Leon, Mukuro, and Junko carrying their own stacks of fliers they had collected while Hifumi was replacing them with fliers depicting rainbows and anime-style couples of varying orientations holding hands with little hearts floating around their heads. Chihiro was found in the library with Kyoko, an angry look on her face as she muttered insults under her breath and the detective encouraged her to keep looking for clues that might help her find the culprit. Mondo and Kiyotaka were suspiciously absent for most of the day, but the two returned well past sunset with a daunting amount of the horrid things that had been posted all over town – they’d spent the entire day scouring the city on Mondo’s bike trying to find them all, and the biker informed them that he had “some of his guys” still combing the city for more.

                Even Byakuya had offered his . . . “unique” brand of help with the situation by hiring someone to “take care of the problem” for them. At first Hina and Sakura didn’t understand what he meant, and then it occurred to them that he’d hired an assassin. When confronted about it, Byakuya did say he hadn’t hired an assassin . . . he’d hired three. The girls said they didn’t want their tormentor to be killed, at which point Byakuya excused himself to “make a few phone calls” and, aside from a somewhat stoned off his rocker Hiro stumbling upon one of them hiding in the bushes and chatting them up for a few hours, that was the last anyone heard of the Togami heir’s hired hitmen.

                When the parties responsible were caught by Kyoko by the end of the day (she’d smirked, saying it had been “mere child’s play” to find the culprits) and subsequently expelled, the rest of their class treated them to a fancy dinner and night out the following weekend (well . . . mostly Byakuya since he was the one paying for everyone) to celebrate. Mostly, Sakura and Hina were just glad to see that they were being accepted and protected by their classmates, all of whom had words of encouragement.

                Even Kiyotaka cheerfully let them know that he was glad they had found love but reminded them that school rules forbid fornication between students regardless of gender. This resulted in eye rolling from most of the others (even Mondo and Chihiro, who exchanged an exasperated look) but Hina and Sakura nodded along with smiles on their faces – he’d meant well in his own way, even if they had already done what he’d told them not to do a few times since they’d been together. “ _He can never find out – especially not that time with the bubble wrap,_ ” Hina had whispered with a giggle. Sakura nodded and smirked in agreement before kissing her girlfriend’s forehead.

                And for the rest of their first year at Hope’s Peak, things were great. She still hadn’t been able to properly beat Kenshiro, but his sickness was actually starting to get better. She’d met Hina’s family and they loved her and she met her family and while Hina was not able to keep up with anyone at the dojo, they loved her, too. Their classmates seemed to be doing all right for the most part as well, although there seemed to be some kind of trouble brewing between the twins most of time. Mukuro didn’t smile much until the impromptu dance club started . . . but she didn’t smile at _all_ after Junko found out about her involvement in it. Junko smiled a lot, but something always felt . . . “off” about it, which the couple marked up to years of modeling affecting her ability to convey sincerity.  It was wonderful to see the odd mix of people in their class make various relationships work, such as Leon and Sayaka’s odd couple routine or the surrogate family that Mondo, Chihiro, and Kiyotaka had formed. It was so strange yet so wonderful to see Hifumi and Celes spending time together discussing everything from Lolita fashion to scripting the doujinshi artist’s next volume, and Makoto and Kyoko taking turns avoiding the topic of their mutual attraction.

                And then the World’s Most Despair Inducing Event happened.

                After the incident their homeroom had managed to survive, they found out one by one the fates of their loved ones outside of the school. Hina’s family had been caught in the middle of a riot, and while they were technically classified as “missing”, there were a lot of bodies left to be identified and she eventually heard that her parents had been positively identified and there was a body that they couldn’t confirm belonged to her brother but seemed very likely to be her brother. She didn’t eat for three days, even when offered donuts, and it wasn’t until Sakura pleaded with her that she finally forced down a protein shake.

                Sakura’s family was all right for the moment. The dojo was inhabited by many skilled fighters and thus far they’d been able to fend off any and all attacks levied by the legions of despair swelling across the country and the world. She considered taking Hina with her back to the dojo for safety . . . something she now sorely, sorely wished she had done . . . but her family pleaded with her to stay within the walls of Hope’s Peak Academy, thinking it would be safer for them there.

                Sakura was glad that she had Hina during the year they were sheltered in the school – it was comforting to have someone she loved by her side. They unofficially moved in together (which no one questioned, not even Kiyotaka) to try and combat the despair. In a weird a way it helped some of the time, but Hina cried herself to sleep most nights and Sakura felt powerless to make her feel better. She suspected that Hina wasn’t the only one who did this, but over time . . . most of them were starting to get numb.

                All except for Makoto. Somehow, someway, he was keeping their spirits up, and he was able to keep them all going. Somehow, despite all of the terrible things that had happened and all of the horrors still going on outside, his positive attitude was infectious and before anyone had a chance to completely fall to despair, there he was to catch them and pull them back to safety. It was why their headmaster – their _real_ headmaster – suggested changing his title to Super High School Level Hope.

                Somehow that . . . helped. Sakura wasn’t sure why, as it was an entirely symbolic gesture that even Makoto himself didn’t seem sure about, but there were more smiles in the halls than there had been and everyone was, slowly, starting to get back to normal. They started talking about what they wanted to do once they were all back outside and the dreams they had. Kyoko and her father were spending a little more time together and mending their broken relationship. Even though they were outdated, Chihiro and Kiyotaka started looking at brochures for colleges and made plans with Mondo (who was planning on starting an apprenticeship in carpentry) to share an apartment. Celes was helping Hifumi with the long term plotting for his original manga. Sayaka was thinking about her career trajectory and Leon suggested she embark on a solo career. Sakura remembered thinking that, maybe if they really did get out of there, she’d have an important question to ask Hina.   

                But it seemed that hope wouldn’t last, and now over half of them were dead.

                Once she had relayed everything she knew to the gathered spirits, Sayaka, Kiyotaka, and Chihiro explained what was going on to the bewildered martial artist – Mukuro wouldn’t look at her during the explanation and started hovering by the door when it was revealed the twins were behind everything and that it was Junko, the real one, who was currently pulling all the string. Sakura couldn’t believe was she was hearing – certainly the fashionista wasn’t what she would call a “nice” girl, having a sharp tongue and a mean streak to rival Byakuya’s, but the idea that she was capable of something this evil was a shock none the less.

                This explained a lot – why Mukuro was dead and why she was wearing the outfit “Junko” had been wearing when she died. When Sakura asked why the elder twin was dead, she shrugged and coolly said she didn’t know. The martial artist watched her for a few more moments in melancholy thought. _So that’s what happened to Mukuro – she died right before our eyes and no one even knew who she was._

                That was only the beginning of it. The more pressing issue for the deceased were the strange monsters roaming the halls and hunting them for what the pop idol and moral compass had described as “glowing red strings” – all they knew was that it was extremely painful to have them cut but no one knew exactly what they were. It seemed that Mondo and Leon had been recently captured and had their strings cut as well. It was a lot to take in, and she realized she’d stepped out of one kind of horror and into another she hadn’t imagined possible.

                “The only thing in our favor right now is that the trial is going to give us a chance to go get Celes and Hifumi,” said Sayaka, absently running her finger along the felted edge of the pool table. She swallowed. “Provided whatever got Leon and Mondo didn’t already.” Kiyotaka’s eyes darkened from his seat opposite Sakura’s body, and Chihiro looked at him with concern, biting her bottom lip as she sat beside him and tried to put a hand on his shoulder. He slid away from her, and the programmer whimpered.

                _Though it seems Sayaka and Chihiro have come to an understanding with their killers, it does not appear that Kiyotaka has done the same_ , Sakura mused. She sighed. “We won’t have a lot of time to find them – this will not be a long trial,” she said. Everyone, including Mukuro, gave Sakura a questioning look. “The note I left Hina explains everything. There may not even be a trial at all once she shows them the note.”

                “More importantly, there won’t be anyone for my sister to have executed,” Mukuro said glumly from the door. “With a suicide note and a locked room it’d be open and shut case. That’ll bore her and she might not even bother going through the motions of it – no risk, no despair, she’ll hate it,” she said. She sighed. “Looks like Hina got Makoto and Kyoko – here they come.” The soldier stepped away from the door and their living classmates started pounding on the glass, yelling and screaming at Sakura’s corpse.

                _But. . . I’m right here . . . I’m right here . . ._

                Sakura felt shaky and weak as Makoto broke the glass window to get the door open, and she nearly collapsed when the sound of the body discovery announcement – _her_ body discovery announcement – played over the loudspeaker. All eyes, living and dead, turned to the monitor in the room as Monokuma gleefully gave the same canned response that had already been played four times before.

                “But there isn’t going to be a trial this time!” Sayaka cried. “There’s a suicide note!”

                “It’s a pre-recorded message, Sayaka,” said Mukuro. She was about to explain she wasn’t sure what Junko’s procedure here would be, she noticed something . . . off about Hina, and then her eyes widened in panic when she saw her pick up the bottle of poison from its place on the floor. “Why is Hina tampering with the crime scene?!”

                Sakura’s eyes widened as a despair-riddled Hina shakily announced she was going to get the others, the bottle of poison clutched in her hand. The martial artist felt herself go numb, her hands shaking as she watched her lover back out of the door to the rec room and bolt down the hall . . . away from the second floor stairwell. “Hina . . . what are you . . .”

               

                Hifumi and Celes were paralyzed in fear near the bottom of the courthouse, hiding in confusion of the under construction execution group they’d found. They’d remained completely silent, holding each other in fear as they hoped the wolf monster and the other creatures wouldn’t find them. They knew they needed to leave eventually to find the trial, but for the moment they were paralyzed in fear.

                Celes’ apology was echoing through Hifumi’s head as they sat there. Celes was not the sincerest person he’d ever met, not by a long shot, but in her own way, in her own fear . . . he knew she meant it. And that gave him the courage to say something bold. Quietly, softly, so softly he wasn’t sure she’d be able to hear him, Hifumi uttered his response to her. “I forgive you.”

                “What?” Celes asked, barely louder than he’d spoken.

                Hifumi spoke a little louder. “I . . . I forgive you, Taeko-chan.”

                “I don’t deserve your forgiveness for what I did to you and Kiyotaka,” she said.

                “Maybe not but you have it anyways,” he said. “I forgive you. End of story.”  
                “Idiot,” she said, but there was a slight bemusement to her voice, and a slight smile on her face. She probably wasn’t lying when she said she didn’t think she deserved his forgiveness, and truth be told, maybe she didn’t, but she did appreciate the gesture. Hifumi smiled back. After all, they were dead, and forever was a long time to not forgive someone you cared about.

                “Pupupupupupu . . .”

                The pair froze – they knew that laugh. It was not unlike the laugh that Monokuma used, but they knew better. In disbelief, Hifumi and Celes poked their heads over the edge of their hiding place and gasped in shock. There, standing in the middle of the construction site, was Junko Enoshima – the _real_ Junko Enoshima, alive and well and definitely not skewered with spears. She was clutching something to her chest and has a devious grin on her face.

                “What is she doing here?” asked Celes.

                Hifumi didn’t have an answer at first, until he recognized what she was holding and a feeling of dread and despair overtook him. _No, no, no no no! This is bad! This is REALLY bad!_ He let out of a scream so loud and sudden it nearly knocked Celes off her feet. “ALTER EGO! THAT’S ALTER EGO’S LAPTOP! OUR PRINCESS IS NOT IN ANOTHER CASTLE!” 

                Sure enough, once Junko flipped open the laptop, the familiar sound of Alter Ego’s cheerful voice could be heard. Alter Ego greeted Junko warmly before innocently asking her why she was alive (evidently Chihiro had told Alter Ego about “Junko”) and how she’d survived. Junko looked at the laptop in bewilderment for a moment before laughing, bending over, and typing something into the laptop.

                “There you go,” she said, snickering to herself. She stood, brushed off her skirt, and headed back the way she came.

                “What do we do!? Do we follow her!?” asked Celes.

                “What, why!?” asked Hifumi.

                “So we can see where she’s been hiding this whole time!”

                “What good is that going to do us!?”

                “I . . . I don’t know, but it’s better than being here!”

                “But what about the trial? The others are coming here, right?”

                “. . . do we really know that, Hifumi?” It took a moment for Hifumi to register what she meant. Sayaka and Chihiro had screamed after he, Mondo, and Leon were already on the elevator. The biker and the ball player had disappeared some time ago, probably captured or killed . . . re-killed . . . super killed . . . something bad had probably happened to them. No one had ever found Kiyotaka, and who knew what happened to Mukuro. There was no telling if their newly deceased classmate (or, heaven forbid, _classmates_ , again) would think to go to the trial.

                “But what if the killer get away with it again?” Hifumi asked. “What if someone like Byakuya killed someone? They might get away with it this time!” He watched Celes pale at the idea. “That means everyone else wouldn’t make it. She’d kill the rest of them. Shouldn’t someone be there for everyone else?”

                “Then I’ll follow Junko and you stay here,” said Celes, getting to her feet. She started to walk towards Junko, not looking back at Hifumi’s frazzled form. “You stay here with the others and, whoever dies, make sure they get back on that elevator. I’ll follow Junko and . . . see what I can do from there, I guess.”

                “No, you can’t do that! You can’t go alone!” said Hifumi.

                Celes stopped suddenly and spun on her heels, pointing a finger at Hifumi, tears streaming from her eyes. “This is the closest we’ve gotten to her since this whole mess started! I . . . I don’t know what I can do but I need to do something!” she said. “I’m the only one who planned out my crime! Do you know how much worse that makes me than Leon and Mondo!?”

                “I HELPED YOU!”

                “NO YOU DIDN’T! THAT’S WHY I NEED TO DO THIS FOR YOU, TOO!”

                “TAEKO-CHAN!”

                “JUST LET ME DO THIS! AND DON’T YOU DARE FOLLOW ME!”

                And with that, Celes ran after the retreating Junko. Hifumi started to run after her, but stopped in frustration. What good would he have really done if he’d followed her? What good would he be doing to whoever died next? As much as he hated to it admit it, she was right. They really didn’t have any choice but to split up.

 

                It didn’t take Mukuro and the others long to figure out what had happened after following Hina all the way to the chemistry lab. She took out the letter she’d received, fought back tears, and continued to tamper with the evidence from the suicide. And once they got a look at the letter’s contents and Sakura identified them as . . . not hers . . . the horror began to set in for all of them.

                In short, Monokuma had switched out Sakura’s suicide note with an . . . alternate . . . suicide note that, clearly, Hina didn’t react well to and now she was fabricating evidence to make it look like a murder. Sayaka and the others didn’t get it at first, but Mukuro suspected she knew what was going to happen if their classmates tried to pin this death on any of the six survivors.

                “Sakura should be considered the blackened in this case . . . if someone else gets the blame, if they get it wrong, _all of them_ will be executed,” said Mukuro. She was shaking as she said it. “I knew Junko wasn’t going to like the idea of an open and shut suicide case – no one to execute, no dragged out trial, no chance for everyone to get it wrong . . . she did this to _amuse_ herself.”

                Sakura let out a massive bellow and punched the wall in anger. Everyone took a few steps away from her, but the punch did no damage to its target and all she’d managed to do was scare her current companions. The despair in her eyes was intense, and Mukuro felt a pit in her stomach. Even when someone had the strength to go against Monokuma, something like this happened. Junko wasn’t playing fair. She never had been. Even with her own sister she’d lied about her intentions.

                “I . . . didn’t mean to startle the rest of you,” Sakura said calmly.

                “It, it’s okay, Sakura – I think we’re all on edge,” said Chihiro. The rest of them hugged the martial artist, but Mukuro kept her distance. Sakura probably didn’t want her comfort. She hadn’t been very good at comforting Chihiro when she’d been crying in the wake of the third incident. Besides, she was partially to blame for what had happened anyways.

                No, the only thing she had any right to do was defend them. Then once they figured out what they were going to do . . . hell, once they figured out if there ever _was_ anything they _could_ do . . . she would probably politely bow out and wander the afterlife alone. That was probably the best thing she could do, all things considered.

                The group broke up their huddle. There wasn’t anything they would be able to do until the trial, and they started heading towards the door. Mukuro waited until they were all out before motioning to pick up the rear, but one of them had stopped and was, apparently, waiting for her. Kiyotaka had his arms cross as he waited for her.

                “Mukuro, you don’t have to keep your distance from everyone.”

                “Kiyotaka, you’re ALL dead because of me and my sister.”

                “So are you – remember our talk in the library? You said so yourself – she betrayed you from the start.” Mukuro wanted to get mad but had to concede his point. He wasn’t exactly wrong. “Let us help you.”

                Mukuro scowled and clenched her fists, staring into the prefect’s eyes. Kiyotaka could be intense when he wanted to be, but here, he wasn’t, and if anything that was making her even angrier. “And how do you think you can help me? Maybe Sakura can but if anyone is able to keeping you guys away from those things and getting Mondo and Leon back it’s-“

                Kiyotaka shook his head. “That isn’t what I meant . . . but please help us with that, too,” he said. He took a few steps closer to her and gently put his hands on her shoulders. “Maybe we can’t fight the monsters, but we can all help each other emotionally. We’re all hurting, and you’re trying to make up for everything, and I think everyone is able to see that.”

                The soldier shut her eyes and focused on her breathing. Kiyotaka stayed put, giving her a moment to think about what she wanted to say. “I don’t think there’s anything I can ever do to make up for what I did to all of you,” she said. “I didn’t even try to talk her out of all this . . . I just wanted her to finally look at me like . . . like I meant something to her.”

                Wordlessly, Kiyotaka pulled her into a hug . . . which was unfortunately a mistake. Without thinking, Mukuro’s instincts kicked in and before she could even think she had him face down on the ground, her knee in his back and a vice grip on his hair. She was about to reach for her knife when she realized what she was doing and scampered off him, staring at him in horror. Kiyotaka pushed himself up, looking a little bit dazed at he stared back at her in shock.

                “I am so sorry about that, I’m not used to . . . that. I’m not used to that,” she said.

                “Uh . . . okay,” Kiyotaka said, a little frazzled. “Um . . . what was that?”

                Mukuro laughed nervously. “Instinct. Usually getting grabbed in my line of work is bad.”

                The prefect’s eyes widened and he immediately lowered his head to the ground in apology. “No, no, I should be the one to apologize, I should have thought about that! Of course, you’re the Super High School Level Soldier, your instincts must be incredibly sharpened and I’m sure you’re on edge right now!” he moaned.

                “No, no, I’m the one who should be apologizing – it’s not your fault I can’t tell the difference between someone trying to comfort me and someone trying to attack me,” she said. She crawled over to him and put her arms around his shoulders perhaps a bit too forcefully before resting her head against his. Slowly, Kiyotaka returned the gesture, and for a few moments they sat there in silence.

                It was a weird feeling. Part of her was uncomfortable, not used to being in this kind of contact with someone, but she felt . . . almost safer. She knew she probably wasn’t safer, but she felt calmer and content, even with the chill of their dead spirits. She wondered what it would have been like if they had hugged while they were still alive . . . was he warm before?

                Mukuro felt something wet and slick slide down her cheek.

                “I . . . know it’s not much but . . . thank you for protecting us.”

                “N, not a problem,” she whispered. “I’ll . . . I’ll keep doing that until I figure out how to make it up to everyone. Even if it takes me forever . . . I’m going to find a way.” Kiyotaka didn’t say anything in response, but gave her a gentle squeeze. Mukuro sniffled into his shoulder, letting her guard down just enough to relax for a few more moments. It wouldn’t be long before they had to rejoin the others and start preparing for the worst. 

 

DING DANG DING DONG! Author’s Announcements

 

This chapter had a theme, didn’t it?

 

First things first: Yes, I’m well aware that things are taking a while. A lot of this is because I’ve had quite a bit going on this year, but something I’ve been helping with that IS getting a lot of regular updates is hunterofcomedy’s _Never Say Never_ , which I’ve been the beta on for a while. The premise? It’s kind of like _Danganronpa: IF_ in that everyone lives and Mukuro has a key role, but they go through all the events of the game and you get to see how people who should be dead affect later events.

 

Hey guys! While I think we’re still a bit off from the final stretch per se I did want to pick your brains with a quick little review/comment survey.   
  
1\. What’s your favorite scene so far?  
  
2\. How do you feel about how the characters are being written so far (note: please keep “Chihiro’s gender” comments to a minimum I’ve already gotten a lot of feedback on that – if you must, you may, but please give me feedback on something else as well J)  
  
3\. Any predictions for where this is going?  


Song Choice: “Dream On” by Aerosmith (though the version I have is the Glee version – IN MY DEFENSE NEIL PATRICK HARRIS IS ON THE TRACK). I do need to get the Aerosmith version at some point. Sometimes I just don’t have a lot I want to put into the author’s notes about these songs, sometimes it’s just like “yeah, this song nicely fits the theme of the chapter I’m working on, yup”.

 

See you next chapter – hopefully there won’t be as much of a massive break in between J

 

Dixxy


	15. Wonderwall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Celes finds Junko's hiding space. Mukuro gets into a scuffle with the wolf monster.

Haunted

By Dixxy Mouri

Chapter Fourteen: Wonderwall

 

                “So this is where you’ve been hiding,” Celes mused to herself. The gambler had followed Junko to the fourth floor of the school, where she had discovered her hiding spot. Clearly the main reason no one had found it (as far as she knew) was that the fourth floor had most likely just opened up in the wake of her trial, but she also discovered that once Junko had locked herself in, she had also locked in Celes. She tried to pass through the door like Leon and Mondo had explained to her earlier, but no such luck.

                That didn’t many any sense, though. From what she’d been told, locked doors didn’t matter to the ghosts. The only things they couldn’t pass through were walls and the grates keep students out of the higher floors, including the grate leading to the second floor of the dormitory (which, in all fairness, had been destroyed some time ago, aside from the headmaster’s quarters). But that didn’t explain why she couldn’t go through this door.

                “Fucking whore bitch!” Celes screamed in frustration, slamming her fists into the door.

                While Celes continued her explicative filled tirade against the door to the rest of the fourth floor, she had to concede that the data center made a lot of sense for the mastermind’s hiding place. It was a central hub for information in the school, where students had access to some of the fastest, most technologically advanced computers in the world. Out of all of her classmates Chihiro spent the most time there, though Hifumi had used it to search for illegal scans of his doujinshi and Celes had played a few simulated high-stakes gambles against Makoto and the other Super High School Level Lucky Students (including one that wanted to make her skin crawl at the thought of him – that garbage pile of a human being was creepy as fuck) as a test of her skills versus luck. Those computers were gone now, though, and the whole room looked different.

Finally giving up on the door and resigning herself to having to spend her time plotting revenge against Junko from the beyond the grave (she’d seen enough horror films to get a few ideas), Celes took a look around and realized the room had also been heavily . . . “renovated”. There were more monitors than before, broadcasting various corners of the school. Some of them were dark, and she surmised these were most likely those being used for the fifth floor or possibly the rooms that had been used by the now deceased students (as they were locked upon the student’s death and, according to Leon, stripped of their belongings). She guessed the cameras on the fifth floor would probably turn on after the fifth trial was completed, assuming that the remaining students found the proper killed. _Obviously this is how Junko is able to confirm whether or not the verdicts are correct, but is it really true that it’s being aired on live television?_

                Celes shoved that unpleasant thought out of her head. She’d done something horrible to Kiyotaka and Hifumi and the knowledge that it had been shown to the world made her stomach turn. Originally, when she’d assumed that the world outside was as it had been when she first set foot on the academy grounds, she thought she’d be able to forget about everything that happened once she found a way out and that it wouldn’t follow her, somehow. But now she realized that wasn’t true – if she, Leon, or Mondo had managed to survive their respective trials, she didn’t know how they would have been treated, end of the world or not. She supposed it was possible the authorities might have gone easy on them considering the circumstances (although her crime had been premeditated and Mondo already had a . . . “colorful” history with the police, especially after he stole an officer’s motorcycle for the “pursuit of knowledge”) but in the end . . . she really didn’t know, and even if they weren’t punished by the courts . . . everyone else would know what they’d done and they’d be guilty in the court of public opinion – they probably wouldn’t be able to return to anything resembling their old lives. Hell, one of her victims had been the son of a cop, so even if she _had_ been able to avoid prosecution, the police did not take kindly to those who go after one of their own or the family of one of their own, even if said cop was from a controversial family line. But that didn’t matter now – none of them had survived their trials and they were dead. Celes wondered what the world thought of the three of them – did they see them as victims of the tragedy playing out at the school, or were they just as evil as the mastermind herself?

                Celes bit her bottom lip. It really didn’t matter anymore. She didn’t get away with what she’d done, and now she was dead, stuck in the fourth floor’s computer lab with the psycho bitch who had done this to everyone. She stared at the door with Monokuma’s face on it, which Junko had disappeared into while she was busy screaming at the other locked door. That room had been used for special simulators to mimic everything from airplane cockpits to submarines exploring the deepest trenches of the ocean. She assumed that must be what Junko was using to control Monokuma, recalling that at one point the Super High School Level Robotics Expert had connected that room to a rover on Mars (which led to an incident that can best be described as “the first dick pics on Mars” that got a lot of students in trouble both with the school and NASA). Suddenly a lot of the “how’s” were falling into place. _With something as advanced as Monokuma running around and all of the surveillance cameras, I suppose she would need access to this kind of technology._

Her fists were clenched, the tip of her finger armor digging into her palm. That was right. This was all Junko’s fault. None of this would have happened if she hadn’t done what she did. While part of Celes was still disgusted with herself over what she’d done, it wouldn’t have happened without Junko’s interference. _She_ had been the one who tricked them all into thinking they were prisoners in the school. _She_ was the one who’d been feeding them motive after motive, egging them on until someone cracked. _She_ was the one who, come to think of it, had ensured that _not one of them_ got out of this without a little blood on their hands – Sayaka had failed to kill Leon but her actions led to his death, and everyone had to vote, so rest of them had some of the ballplayer’s blood on their hands as well.

                “If I ever find a way to kill you from beyond the grave, I will _happily_ add you to my death toll.” 

                But getting angry didn’t really improve her situation much – Junko was in the simulator room and now Celes was alone in the data center. She scanned the monitors to try and figure out who had died this time, only to discover the image of Sakura Oogami’s body being dragged out of the rec room by a small team of Monokuma’s wearing hardhats.

                “. . . Sakura?” she asked, her eyes wide in fear and confusion. Someone had actually managed to murder _Sakura Oogami,_ the undisputed strongest student in their class? She swallowed, reaching out a cold, ghostly hand to the screen where the body was currently in frame. She and Sakura hadn’t been particularly close, but . . . this was different from seeing the other bodies. Before they had been the bodies of strangers – horrifying, yes, even standing alone in the art storage room with Kiyotaka and Hifumi’s bodies – but strangers at the time. In retrospect those images all hurt, especially what she’d done to Kiyotaka and Hifumi, but now . . . now she knew. This was a body she was seeing that _was_ someone she knew, someone who was gentle and kind and probably one of the best all-around people in her class.

                _Who killed you?_ Celes thought to herself. Part of her wanted to lash out in anger at the perpertrator, but found herself struggling with that emotion as she recalled that, whoever had done it, had fallen victim just like she had, and Mondo and Leon and Sayaka before her. She covered her mouth with her hand as she held back a sob, clenching her eyes shut as she tried to cope with her emotions.

                And then another screen flicked on and she saw the beginning of the fourth trial.

               

                Sometime after Celes had disappeared after Junko, the elevator containing his classmates finally arrived on the floor with the weird hieroglyphics connected to the construction site. Hifumi suspected that would be the site of the next trial, thinking that Junko wouldn’t have left Alter Ego there without a reason to, so now all he had to do was hope that Celes was wrong about the others.

                Once Hifumi realized who was on the elevator, he was struck with a ton of mixed feelings. On the one hand it looked like Sayaka and Chihiro must have tracked down Kiyotaka as he was amongst them, and they had successfully found Mukuro AND convinced her to join the group. But that didn’t compare to the horror he felt when he realized that it was Sakura, _Sakura_ , who had most recently perished.

                “Hifumi! You’re ali- you’re not hur- you’re here!” said Chihiro, rushing over to him like an excited puppy. She tried to hug him, but her arms didn’t reach all the way around his body. Hifumi gently patted the top of her head, but he was much more focused on Kiyotaka. For the moment he wasn’t looking at him, he was discussing something with Mukuro ( _Really, Master Kiyotaka Ishimaru? Now that you’re DEAD you’re trying to lose your virginity? Not sure there’s much of a point in that anymore . . ._ ), but he knew that, eventually, they were going to end up . . . “exchanging words”.

                Once Chihiro had pulled herself away from him, Hifumi decided to throw dignity to the wind.

                “PLEASE FORGIVE ME MASTER KIYOTAKA ISHIMARU!” Hifumi had thrown himself at Kiyotaka’s feet and begun to grovel. “I AM A WORM! I AM NOT EVEN WORTHY TO LICK THE BOOTS OF THE MOST UNDERRATED OF MANGA-KA! I AM EPISODE FOUR OF _TENGEN TOPPA GURREN LAGANN_! I’M WORSE THAT CAIT SITH! I AM EVERYTHING WRONG WITH _METROID: OTHER M!!!_ ”

                Kiyotaka was staring at him in bewilderment and tryin to back away, but Hifumi had his legs locked in his arms as he continued to bawl his eyes out. “Hifumi, I have no idea what in the world you’re talking about!”

                “I . . . I think he’s trying to apologize to you for the whole, um, murdering you, thing,” said Sayaka.

                “I AM THE ENDLESS EIGHT!”

                “I don’t understand how anything he’s talking about . . . whatever it is . . . has to do with that?”

                “I’M THE ALFheim ONLINE ARC!”

                “Hifumi, no one understands what-”

                “I AM KONAMI!”

                “HIFUMI!” Kiyotaka finally shouted. “YOU’RE NOT MAKING ANY SENSE!”

                Hifumi looked up at Kiyotaka and realized his mistake. He’d wrapped his arms around his legs and the other student had lost his balance, now being half held up by Mukuro, who was looking at him in equal confusion. Hifumi let go and backed away before pressing his head to the ground. “I’m sorry I killed you.”

                “. . . uh . . .”

                “Can this wait? We need to fill you in on what’s going on this trial and . . . where the hell is Celes?” asked Sayaka, looking around. Hifumi looked up at the pop idol, wondering how he was going to explain what had happened to her. Then again, why wasn’t she asking about Leon or Mondo? They weren’t on the elevator (which he hadn’t expected) but he figured she would have asked about her boyfriend before the gambler.

                “Um . . . well . . . Mondo and Leon vanished . . .” he said.

                “Y, yeah, we kind of suspected that, actually,” said Chihiro. “They’re being held on the fifth floor.”

                “. . . held? As in held like prisoners?”

                Mukuro sighed. “Yeah, about that . . .”

 

                Mondo wasn’t sure what was going on, but he was _pissed_.

                Maybe five, ten minutes after the announcement for the trial sounded, three of their captors started to drift into the bio lab. Leon stayed where he was, not sure what to do, but Mondo got to his feet and crossed his arms. “What the hell do you want from us _now!?_ Haven’t you taken enough from us!?” He clenched his fists and his teeth, wondering if he could do something to fight back.

                _Maybe I can do that thing I did to that other one . . ._ Mondo slowly moved one of his hands behind his back, trying to concentrate on making whatever he’d done happen again. Nothing happened, but luckily for him and Leon . . . their captors weren’t doing anything, either. Instead they were staring at them with those blank, vacant faces they had.

                “What are they doing?” asked Leon.

                “Fuck should I know?” Mondo responded quietly, still trying to bring back that spark.

                The door creaked open, and the monsters all bellowed. Leon and Mondo froze in place as the monsters bent down into crouching positions, ready to pounce at a moment’s notice. Several Monokumas wearing hard hats came into the room, dragging a body with them, and neither of the boys could believe whose corpse had triggered the last body discovery announcement.

                “Sakura!?” Leon shouted.

                The lifeless corpse of one of the strongest people they knew was lying in the middle of the bio lab floor as the Monokuma robots worked together to open one of the body freezers. Mondo started to approach the martial artist, in disbelief that she was dead, when one of the monsters screamed at him, sending him scuttling back to his corner. That was all it took for him and Leon to quietly understand the context for this “visit”, but escape was the furthest thing from Mondo’s mind.

                Sakura was _dead_.

                Maybe it hadn’t registered in his last week or so of life when he’d been existing without him memories, but the idea that _Sakura Oogami_ had not survived Junko’s sick little game felt like a bad dream. She wasn’t exactly a leader amongst their class but she was the pillar everyone knew they could lean on in a crisis – hell, she’d figured out how badly his relationship with the fashionista was going before even Kiyotaka and Chihiro confronted him about it. Leon had cried out to her for help when the two of them were being dragged to the fifth floor, either forgetting he was dead and she wasn’t or maybe on some level thinking that despite that Sakura would still be able to help them. The only time she hadn’t been the first to react to something was the incident with the gym teacher, and she apologized to Chihiro later, admitting that she’d been so stunned by what happened that by the time she would have been able to involve herself, her soon to be “big brothers” already had the situation under control and she didn’t think it was wise to interfere (which, when Mondo thought about it, made a lot of sense in a weird, roundabout way). Knowing that she was gone, hell, just trying to figure out _how_ she was gone, was soul crushing.

                She couldn’t be dead . . . she couldn’t be dead . . .

                _If Sakura couldn’t survive, what chances do the rest of them have?_

 

                “. . . and if they aren’t able to figure out Sakura committed suicide EVERYONE is going to die,” said Kiyotaka. Hifumi looked absolutely horrified at what was going on, as he probably should have been, but at that moment there wasn’t much else they could do. The trial had already started by this point and, currently, their classmates were trying to sort out whether or not Hiro’s attack had been the fatal blow – luckily it seemed like Makoto had already pieced this together and was explaining it to the rest of the group.

                “That brings us back to our earlier question – where’s Celes?” asked Mukuro.

                _Can we consider not looking for her just yet? I know we have to . . . I just . . ._ Kiyotaka kept quiet. Hifumi had, somewhat unintentionally, broken the ice between them, but that wasn’t the case for his thoughts about Celes. He didn’t want to see her yet, even though he knew he had to sooner or later. He wasn’t sure what he could possibly say to her.

                “I’d also like to know why the four of you didn’t get back on the elevator after the third trial as well,” said Sayaka.

                Hifumi closed his eyes. “We had an encounter with the human-shaped monsters you all encountered earlier – we were able to fight them off but not before the elevator had already headed back up to the school,” he said in defeat. “Just as we thought we’d gotten away from our problems the elevator was already leaving and we had no way of getting out of here.”

                “You fought them off?” asked Kiyotaka. “But how? They’re incredibly fast and strong!”

                “Oh! Right! I almost forgot about that!” said Hifumi. He straightened his glasses and folded his arms. “As it turns out Master Mondo Oowada and Taeko-chan seemed to gain temporary super powers from their executions as our assailants were badly burnt and electrocuted when they tried to attack us.” This stunned everyone into silence, which prompted Hifumi to try and re-enact the scenes with his hands and various sound effects. “They were all like ‘rargh!’ and we were all like ‘eeee!’ and Taeko-chan was like like ‘FWOSH!’ and-“

                Kiyotaka held up his hand to quiet the otaku. “Super powers?”

                “Yes indeed! It seems that Master Mondo Oowada had absorbed some amount of electricity and Taeko-chan was incredibly hot! I mean temperate, not attractiveness. I mean she is but . . . that’s not the point! We, well, um, I guess those two were able to fight them off but . . . I think they went away because then Taeko-chan and I were attacked AGAIN but this time by the wolf monster AND more of the people monsters, but when Taeko-chan tried to fight back . . . it didn’t work so we ran.”

                That was . . . different. While the girls fired questions at Hifumi about these supposed super powers, the prefer kept to himself to mull this over quietly. Kiyotaka hadn’t really been much for comic books or anime or anything like that but he was familiar with the concept. He of course knew about some, and after befriending Mondo and Chihiro he’d been talked into watching the occasional movie after classes or during school breaks. The only ones he really remembered were the X-Men movies because they took place in a school for students who were both exceptionally talented (just like Hope’s Peak) and hadn’t fit in back home (just like him), and they had super powers, like the man with laser eyes or the girl who could absorb other people’s powers (who was Kiyotaka’s favorite for reasons he couldn’t articulate – Mondo said it was because “she was hot” but Kiyotaka disagreed . . . mostly). But there was no way Mondo and Celes could have powers like the X-Men, right?

                _That’s . . . that’s just insane! Then again, we’re all ghosts and there are monsters here . . ._

                “How did you get away from them?” asked Sayaka.

                “Well, um, it turns out the wolf monster isn’t too fond of the people monsters and it attacked them,” said Hifumi. He sighed, taking a moment before continuing. “After that we hid in the execution ground on this floor until we . . . EYAHH! I SHOULD HAVE MENTIONED THAT FIRST!” He slapped his hands on his cheeks.

                “Hifumi, what should you have mentioned?” asked Mukuro.

                “ALTER EGO! JUNKO HAS ALTER EGO!”

                “WHAT!?” everyone yelled.

                “She, she, she has my baby!?” Chihiro cried, tears starting to flow down her cheeks. Kiyotaka felt his stomach tie itself into knots. The laptop he and Hifumi had fought over, the one that had cost them their lives but still held the key to saving everyone else . . . it was in _Junko’s_ hands now?! He pulled Chihiro into a hug and allowed her to cry onto his shoulder, patting her back absently.

                _This isn’t happening . . . this isn’t happening . . ._

                “Where is Alter Ego now?” asked Mukuro.

                Hifumi lowered his head. “The execution grounds – it’s some sort of construction site, I think?”

                “That makes sense, actually – this is a backup courtroom for an unusual circumstance or a malfunctioning execution on one of the other floors,” said Mukuro. “She’s probably planning to ‘execute’ Alter Ego in place of Sakura, who’s already dead, but technically the ‘blackened’ in this case.” She crossed her arms and tapped her foot. “Even if Alter Ego isn’t a ‘student’, destroying it will cause the other students despair and placate her for the time being.”

                Chihiro continued to whimper into Kiyotaka’s shoulder. “That’s a little cold, Mukuro.”

                “Honestly, it’s better that Junko _has_ Alter Ego to take it out on – what do you think she would have done if she didn’t?” said Mukuro. This idea hung in the air for a few moments while the others thought about it, and they all had to agree, even Chihiro – Alter Ego’s destruction was the “best case scenario”.

                “Now what?” asked Chihiro.

                “Actually, I have a question – Hifumi, you mentioned ‘floor’ and Mukuro said that this courtroom was to be used for unusual circumstances – are there multiple courtrooms?” asked Sayaka, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow. “Can either of you elaborate on that for the rest of us?”

                “The courthouse we’re in is several floors deep and left over from some sort of top secret research the school was conducting before the World’s Most Despair Inducing Incident happened,” said Mukuro. “Each floor was made up with a specific student in mind – there’s one for everyone but me . . . probably because my sister didn’t want me to even see the first trial . . . as well as a couple of extra court rooms like this one.”

                “So that’s how she was able to have so many elaborate executions – they’re all set and ready to go?” asked Sayaka, shaking in horror. Kiyotaka wondered if she was terrified of the thought that, had things gone differently the night of her death, if she would have seen what “her” courtroom looked like. “That’s, that’s just . . .”

                “Not important right now,” said Sayaka. “Right now what’s most important is finding Celes.”

                Kiyotaka felt his entire being clench at the mention of her name.

                “When we saw Junko bring Alter Ego down here Celes decided to follow, but that was a while ago – I don’t know where they went,” said Hifumi.

                “And even if we did, depending on where my sister went we might not be able to follow anyways,” said Mukuro. “Remember, we can’t go through every door in the school, and it seems like the general rule of thumb is that those doors are the ones Junko is keeping locked herself, like the headmaster’s office or the locked floors.”

                “Why did she go after Junko alone?” asked Chihiro.

                Kiyotaka was biting the inside of his bottom lip. He really, really wanted to say something he knew he’d end up regretting. Part of him was hoping Celes was caught by one of those despair monsters for what she’d done to him, but he tried to bury the thought. Feelings like that weren’t going to help the situation they were in and voicing that was going to make things even worse.

                “She said someone needed to stay behind for the trial.”

                “That makes sense,” Sayaka admitted. “I’m still worried, though – you said it yourself, she used to have a way to defend herself but she doesn’t anymore.”

                “Somehow I don’t think she was worried about that,” said Chihiro, biting her bottom lip. She and the others turned their attention to Sakura, who had mostly kept out of their conversation to keep watch on the trial, and perhaps more importantly, Hina. Kiyotaka clutched at his sleeve – of course she was uncomfortable with this trial. _She must be blaming herself for this, but . . . in the end this is all_

                And then Hina “admitted” to killing Sakura, and all of the ghosts froze in place.

 

                “Hina?! No, no, not Hina!”

                Celes was pounding her fists against the screen showing her the trial. This couldn’t be! Hina was sweet and bubbly and adored Sakura – even with her memories gone they’d become fast friends in this horrible place, and before that . . . God, Celes could only _fantasize_ about someone looking at her the way those two looked at each other. It was the one time she’d heard a high schooler talk sincerely about asking their partner about marriage and Celes didn’t automatically scoff in response – yeah, Sakura and Hina tying the knot made sense to her (not that the other couple in the class didn’t care about each other, but there was _no way_ either of them would have been ready for marriage . . . especially not Leon “Hey guys watch this!” Kuwata).

                This was the fourth time in a row that one of the killers had gone after someone they were close to. Sayaka had tried to kill her boyfriend, who’d killed her in what probably had been some kind of fucked up self-defense, or at least self-preservation. Mondo had attacked one of his best friends, best friends he saw as siblings, and sent the other spiraling into despair as a result of his actions. And then Celes had entangled Hifumi in her own plot, dragging Kiyotaka down with them.

                Hina killing Sakura didn’t seem _real_ , but it fit everything else that had happened.

                But why? Why was it playing out like that? What was causing everyone, for the most part, to target the classmates they were closest to? Their memories being removed couldn’t explain that – if they had their memories then that would have resulted in _no one_ killing anyone . . . probably. _Oh GOD I hope no one would have done something if our memories were intact._ She folded her arms to think about this, wondering if there was some piece of the puzzle she was missing.

                At that moment, the screen focused on Toko, and Celes had an epiphany.

                “Toko’s told us before that while she and Genocider Syo don’t share _memories_ , they share _knowledge_ and _emotions_ ,” she said aloud, putting together the pieces of the puzzle. “If our memories aren’t linked to emotions and knowledge, just like Toko and Genocider Syo, then that would leave everyone with a connection to their respective killers and victims that they couldn’t explain.”

                It made perfect sense. Part of Sayaka must have “known” that Leon would be interested in a late night rendezvous and used it to lure him to the scene of the crime, and Leon would have trusted Sayaka not to try and kill him. Chihiro would have _naturally_ sought out help from Mondo or Kiyotaka, and either one of them would have complied with that request to meet with her. Even if he didn’t remember why, Kiyotaka had been doubly devastated that his two best friends had died within hours of each other, leaving him alone in the killing game – that’s why he’d broken down the way he did. And of course she had gone to Hifumi to be her accomplice – who else would she have asked?

                Hina must have known that Sakura wouldn’t question a drink from her girlfriend.

                “That’s it - Junko removed our memories, but not our emotions,” said Celes. “That’s why this worked. If we actually _had_ been strangers no one would have trusted each other enough to try anything that led to tragedy. Maybe, _maybe_ Sayaka would have gone after Makoto because they knew _of_ each other in junior high but . . . yeah, that has to be it!”

                Pleased with herself for figuring out part of the mystery but still feeling ill at the horrors her conclusion implied, Celes was conflicted and didn’t know how to feel. On the one hand now everything was starting to make sense, but on the other . . . it was just going to make everyone, alive and dead, that much more upset. And how the hell was she going to pass that information on to the survivors? What good would that _do_ anyone who was still alive if she couldn’t tell them!

                Celes crossed her arms and tapped her foot. “This puts Makoto and Kyoko at the highest risk since they had . . . something, fuck I don’t know what you’d call it,” she said. “But then again . . . they’ve been the best assets for solving all of these cases, so . . . do they even have the drive to kill? I can’t really see either one of them doing that . . . but then again I never would have . . .” She closed her eyes and grasped as her sleeve.

                _Nothing’s changed._

                Celes sighed, unsure of what to do, when she felt something cold, slimey, and gritty grab her from behind. Her eyes widened in fear and she tried to scream when she realized she was being held by one black arm and one white arm and she understood exactly what was now dragging her away. _No! No! NOOOOO!_

 

                There was a huge sigh of relief among the ghosts when Makoto and Kyoko got onto the scent of Sakura’s suicide. Hina was arguing it fervently, but the Super High School Level Hope and Super High School Level Detective were beginning to wrap everything up and, at least for now, it didn’t look like anyone else was going to be joining their dead group. Kiyotaka allowed himself a seat along the wall of the courtroom – his legs were starting to feel funny and he realized it was the stress of this particular trial that had the potential to have _no_ survivors, not even the culprit.

                “I have never been so happy to see one of these trials coming to a close,” said Sayaka. Everyone nodded in agreement, even if the taste of its bitter-sweetness was on the tips of their tongues. Yes, the remaining six students were going to live (Mukuro had theorized that even with HIna’s tampering with the crime scene she probably wasn’t going to be “punished” as she hadn’t actually killed anyone, and Chihiro confirmed this by reminding everyone that Byakuya had, more or less, “gotten away” with tampering with Mondo’s crime scene) but this was still going to be ruled a suicide, which was a different kind of despair.

                Kiyotaka ran his fingers though his hair as he tried to calm himself down. For now, the death toll wasn’t going to climb any higher. All six of them were going to return to the school, alive, and hopefully find a way out before another person fell to temptation. As dangerous as the outside was right now, it was better than in here.

                As he lowered his hands, Kiyotaka spotted something a little off on his right hand. He stared at his palm for a moment, wondering if he was just seeing things. Someone it looked like there was a splotch of skin that was a little paler than the rest. _That’s strange,_ he thought to himself. It was hard to tell – he was already somewhat fair skinned in life and as a ghost he was only paler. He squinted, trying to get a better look.

                _Yeah . . . the center of my palm is definitely lighter than the rest of it . . . it’s white . . ._

                There was an amorphous splotch of skin in the center of his palm, obscured by his (now very poorly named) life lines. He squinted at his hand again, wondering if this was a side effect of his death and he just hadn’t noticed. But that was a strange, nonsensical thing to happen. He wanted to ask the others if they had similar light spots on their hands but he wouldn’t get the chance.

                “WATCH OUT!”

                Kiyotaka’s train of thought was promptly derailed by a scream and a howl. Forgetting his hand for the moment, his head snapped up and he got to his feet just in time to see the giant wolf monster Sayaka and Chihiro had told them about had burst into the courtroom . . . and was heading straight for Mukuro. “ _MUKURO!_ ” Kiyotaka screamed.

                Faster than he could process, Mukuro had dodge-rolled out of the way and was now poised for an attack, a combat knife in each hand as she stared down the creature. Sayaka and Chihiro were shaking in fright as Sakura had moved in front of them to shield them from the monster, her eyes filled with rage at their foe. Hifumi was frozen in fear, making oddly high-pitched shrieking sounds every few seconds. The wolf wasn’t paying anyone but Mukuro any mind, growling and snapping its teeth at her.

                “It wasn’t this mad before!” Chihiro cried out, clinging to Sayaka in fear.

                Mukuro had gone quiet, never taking her eyes off the wolf monster as they evaluated each other, looking for the right moment to attack. Sakura, too, was looking for her own opportunity to enter the ray, but she seemed hesitant to leave Sayaka and Chihiro defenseless – Kiyotaka noticed that she was also trying to keep an eye on Hifumi and himself, trying to find a way to protect all four of them in the event the wolf decided to abandon its fight with Mukuro.

                “This is just like what happened last time!” Hifumi finally managed to shout. “The elevator!”

                Kiyotaka’s eyes darted to the elevator and he realized the otaku was right. If they wasted too much time with the wolf monster, they might get trapped in the courthouse. He forced himself to his feet, trying to figure out what to do. He didn’t think he had it him to try and tangle with the monster – the only two who had any business even _trying_ were Mukuro and Sakura. All he had was a little bit of kendo training and that was useless to him without a sword.

                Thinking about the elevator, Kiyotaka took a moment to evaluate the trial – Makoto was in a shouting match with Hina at this point as she was still trying to insist that she had killed Sakura. That meant the vote hadn’t been called yet and they still had time to deal with the wolf before the elevator left, but probably not a lot of time – there wouldn’t be an execution, so the living students would be making their exit soon.  

                Mukuro and the wolf were circling each other, and for the first time Kiyotaka was able to understand why the elder twin was the Super High School Leve Soldier. Even when facing down a monster twice, maybe three times her size, she was calm and collected, keeping her cool as she analyzed her opponent. She wasn’t afraid of this thing, not at all. Maybe it was because, according to Chihiro, she’d already managed to kill one, but it seemed like the confidence she was carrying herself with was just a little too natural for that to be the case.

                During their school life, Mukuro had never seemed this confident. Oh, she never came off as being unsure of herself or anything as she’d always been more stoic than anything else, but maybe that was because she wasn’t usually in a combat situation at Hope’s Peak Academy. She often seemed submissive whenever her sister was around, though the more he learned about the sisters now that Junko’s true nature had been revealed to him this didn’t seem too surprising.

                This was her natural environment.

                Either Mukuro or the wolf lunged forward – Kiyotaka couldn’t tell which one had launched first, but the first strike was happening before his eyes, Mukuro plunging a knife towards the beast’s face and the monster catching the blade in its teeth. The counter took Mukuro by surprise and the wolf was able to toss her aside, but Mukuro kept hold of the other knife and land as gracefully as she could, poised for another attack.

                Chihiro and Sayaka were shrieking and holding each other and Hifumi, while definitely still conscious, looked somewhat catatonic in fear. Sakura held her ground, glaring at the creature angrily. Kiyotaka was trying to keep track of everything going on – how far along was the trial, did he need to move out of the way to avoid the creature, were any of the others in danger?

                Makoto was going over Hina’s tampering. Time was running out.

                Mukuro effortlessly dodged another attack, side-stepping around the wolf, almost as if it were a dance. She did a sweep kick to the wolf’s hind legs, knocking it to the ground before trying to stab it again. It managed to roll out of the way before lunging forward to try and bite her arm. Mukuro rolled under before trying to stab it again.

                Attack! Dodge! Dodge! Attack! Attack! Dodge!

                PUNCH!

                The wolf went sailing across the courtroom courtesy of Sakura’s fist, the martial artist glaring at the wolf. Mukuro was leaning against the wall, trying to regain her bearings from the last few minutes. “Are you all right, Mukuro?” Sakura asked. The girls kept their eyes locked on the wolf, who was getting to its feet and growling.

                “I’m fine,” she said, never taking her eyes off the wolf. “He’s different from the one I got earlier. The people shaped ones aren’t trying to make lethal attacks, but this one is.” She started to sidestep toward the knife she’d dropped earlier, the wolf’s gaze following Mukuro from across the room. “Based on what happened to Kiyotaka and Sayaka they want to drag us unharmed . . . relatively speaking . . . up to the fifth floor. So this creature doesn’t make sense with that plan.”

                The wolf leapt across the courtroom towards Mukuro. The soldier stood her ground, waiting until the last second to dodge out of the way. Sakura used the chance to move in on the wolf herself, only to have the wolf dodge her, but make no motion to attack. That struck Kiyotaka as odd – while it was battling Mukuro it was constantly lashing out at her with its teeth and claws, but now that it was fighting Sakura is was taking a purely defensive strategy.

                Then the wolf ended up within arm’s reach of Sayaka and Chihiro. The girls shrieked in terror, backing away from the wolf . . . but it made no motion to go after them. Sakura and Mukuro’s fighting stances relaxed for a moment as the surprise of this revelation took hold and the wolf’s intentions became clear.

                Whatever the rest of the monsters wanted, the wolf was only interested in Mukuro.

                “Mukuro, get behind me!” Sakura yelled.

                “What!? I’m not running from a fight!” Mukuro shot back. Brandishing both knives in her hands, she charged towards the wolf, brushing past Sakura in anger. “So it just wants me, does it? Fine! I’ll give it what it wants!” The wolf howled and leapt towards her, the two clashing in mid-air again. They both had a rough landing, with Mukuro recovering slightly faster than her opponent.

                “What are you talking about!?” Kiyotaka yelled. “That means we need to beat it!”

                “Don’t be an idiot!” Mukuro yelled, leaping out of the way of another attack. “If it just wants me then let me distract it while you guys get on the elevator!” She braced herself for another attack. “That just means I need to distract it for a few more minutes. Then you guys can get out of here, right?! So then you can all figure out how to get out of the school and move on!”

                In that moment Mukuro’s intentions became clear. She didn’t intend to leave that battle in one piece. She was only defending herself just enough to keep herself in fighting condition long enough for the trial to end the elevator to return for Makoto and the others and giving them all a way back to the school. After that . . .

                Kiyotaka wasn’t sure what overcame him, but he lunged towards the battle himself.

                “ _Idiot! What the hell are you doing!?_ ”

                Truth be told . . . he didn’t know himself, but he skidded to a halt between Mukuro and the wolf, throwing his arms wide open. He’d done this dozens of times to break up fights between junior high and high school punks but he’d never tried to get involved in a situation like this before! _What the hell am I doing here!?_

                “TAKA, _NO!_ ” Mukuro screamed.

                Kiyotaka was barely able to keep up with what happened next. Mukuro tried to push him out of the way but he fought back and the two of them tumbled to the ground, with the prefect ultimately ending up on his hands and knees, shielding her from the wolf. She looked like she was about to throw him off when the two of them noticed something peculiar.

                The wolf had stopped.

                Kiyotaka could feel the wolf’s eyes on him, and its muzzles was only a few hairs away from his face – it would have been nothing for the wolf to lunge forward and maul him so badly even his own mother wouldn’t have recognized him. But the wolf wasn’t budging, just staring into his eyes and staying calmly, perfectly still before him.

                For a moment, not more than a second the eyes changed from black and red to a soft violet, and Kiyotaka felt something catch in his throat. They didn’t look like the eyes of a beast anymore, but almost human. Before long the wolf’s eyes had returned to their previous state, and it started to slowly back away from him. It snorted, looked around, and then walked away.

                Silence hung in the air as no one was quite sure what to do.

                Hifumi adjusted his glasses. “Did . . . did the wolf just rage quit?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DING DANG DING DONG! Author’s Announcements!
> 
> Hey look this one came out within three months, go me!
> 
> So as some of you know I’ve been busy with helping the handsome and talented hunterofcomedy with his story Never Say Never which has been going FANTASTIC and you should all go check it as out (you know, after leaving some love in the comments/reviews section here wink wink nudge nudge) if you haven’t already. In short? It’s a retelling of the first game where all the same events happen but everyone who should have died does not and you have the whole Danganronpa:IF aspect of Mukuro going “yeah I basically had no character in the first game but CHECK ME OUT I’M FUCKING AWESOME IN THE NOVEL BOO-YA!”. 
> 
> He’s also been helping with Haunted (that line about the wolf rage quitting was his idea, for example) and the stuff that comes after Haunted, too – yes, there is stuff that’s supposed to come after this, you’ll see when we get there (which I’m HOPING won’t take another year to get to but we’ll see how Real Life feels about that situation). I realize things slowed down a bit this past year and while there’s no one primary factor, I am hoping things are going to start picking up again. 
> 
> SONG CHOICE: “Wonderwall” by Oasis. I also feel like I need to use “Champagne Supernova” are some point as well but maybe not this fic. 
> 
> Until next time! And have a safe and happy holiday!
> 
> Dixxy


	16. They

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fourth trial wraps up and Mukuro's group comes up with a plan going forward. Meanwhile, Mondo's group comes to a series of despairing conclusions.

Haunted

By Dixxy Mouri

Chapter Fifteen: They

 

                Monokuma was gleefully announcing the voting results when Kiyotaka suddenly found himself the subject of a verbal assault. Mukuro was still lying on the ground beneath him (in what he realized all too late was a bit more compromising of a position than he’d intended) and was glaring up at him angrily. Part of him suspected that moving out of the way was the best course of action, but the look Mukuro was giving him made it seem like moving might not be such a great idea.

                “What the hell is wrong with you!? You could have been killed – again! The wolf only wanted me and you should have left it at that!” Mukuro yelled, pushing the prefect away from her. “For fuck’s sake, _Taka_ , that was stupid, stupid, stupid! That’s one fight you and I damn well know you should have stayed the fuck out of it! You and the others should have all fucked off!” Kiyotaka only stared at her with sad eyes for a moment before he started to glare right back at her.

                “First of all, _language._ Second of all, why are you yelling at me, you should be thanking me!” Kiyotaka shot back. “What exactly did you planning on doing!? How is throwing yourselves to the wolves – ugh, _literally_ – going to do any of us any good!? We can’t afford to keep losing people, so it’s important that we all stick together!”

                “Then how else am I ever supposed to atone for what I did!?” She was still angrily yelling at him, but he could see tears in her eyes. “I don’t care if my sister is the one running this game or who killed who or who started what – I should have done something to stop this before any of this happened – any of this!” She clenched her eyes shut. “All I wanted was my sister’s love and approval. And all I got for it was all of your blood on my hands. I can’t stand that I still exist! I just . . . I don’t . . . I don’t even know what I want!”

                Kiyotaka balked as his understanding of the situation started to gel. Clearly, Mukuro assumed that sacrificing herself was the only way to make up for her role in the end of the world and the situation they had all found themselves in. It took him a few seconds to process how he was supposed to feel about that, but catching a glimpse of a distraught Hina in the corner of his eye made up his mind.

                “Because that’s-!” Kiyotaka started to yell, but realized that wasn’t going to do any good. He lowered his head and rolled to the side, taking a seat beside her. “Getting yourself hurt beyond what you already are is not going to solve anything. It’s not going to make Junko love you, and it’s not going to bring the rest of us back. It’ll just make things worse.” He clenched his eyes shut. “Nine of us are dead now. If we’re going to figure out whatever we need to do next . . . we need to stick together.”

                It was all that was needed to be said as Mukuro seemed to understand what he was getting at. Her eyes were cast downwards, lost in thought. “You’re right . . .” she conceded. “I . . . I’m sorry . . . I’m sorry.” Mukuro sighed, throwing her head back. “I guess I’m just not very good at being a good person, am I?”

                Kiyotaka smiled. “I was the Super High School Level Moral Compass. I can help you if you want.”

                Mukuro looked away. “I don’t think it matters but . . . that was really nice of you. Thanks.”

                “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I need to ask. Why did you think sacrificing yourself would solve the problem?” Kiyotaka and Mukuro looked up to see Sakura hovering over them, her arms folded. However, her eyes weren’t on them, but on Hina, who was sobbing while Kyoko and Makoto tried to comfort her as Monokuma read the group her suicide note. “I made that mistake, and we’ve seen what happened as a result. All I did was lessen the number of survivors by one, but it could have been everyone, had things in this trial played out differently.”

                Mukuro’s eyes widened as realization struck her. Kiyotaka bit his bottom lip.

                “Kiyotaka and Sakura are right – we can’t make any more sacrifices, and we have to stick together,” said Sayaka. She extended her hands to them, offering them help up off the ground. “The next thing we need to do is get to the fifth floor and save Mondo and Leon, right?”

                “What about Taeko-chan?” asked Hifumi.

                Kiyotaka made an angry face at that. _What_ about _“Taeko-chan”?_ he thought bitterly.

                Mukuro shook her head. “If she followed my sister she might have made it to the fourth floor. That’s where her base of operations is.” She crossed her arms. “But the door to the data center can’t be passed through – I already tried earlier and no luck. So if she’s in there she might be stuck for the moment.” She sighed. “Either way, we don’t want to get stuck down here.”

                “Agreed,” said Sakura. “Once the trial is over we’ll start planning what to do about the fifth floor. Based on what Kiyotaka and Sayaka have told us it would be foolish to rush in headlong. We still don’t know what the beasts want or what that string-cutting ceremony means.”

                Kiyotaka and Sayaka exchanged a knowing look. Undoubtedly the same had been done to Mondo and Leon by now, and the prefect had a sneaking suspicion the beasts wouldn’t be satisfied with just four red strings. Since the game began, nine of them had died, leaving just Junko and the six remaining players. If anyone else gave into temptation, that would be even more possible victims.

                _I wish the headmaster was still here . . . I wish I could ask him for help . . ._ _wait a second . . ._

                “Hey, guys, I just realized-“ Kiyotaka started when  Monokuma began to shout that, even though there was no “blackened” to punish in this case since Sakura was already dead, he had a “very special guest” he was going to punish instead. All of the students present, living and dead alike, exchanged looks of confusion, not sure who Monokuma was referring to at first.

                And then Chihiro started wailing. “ _ALTER EGO!_ ”

                Like a shot, Chihiro bolted in the direction of the execution ground. Hifumi was the first to go after her (though Kiyotaka felt a streak of anger shoot through him as he questioned the otaku’s motivations), with everyone else scrambling after them in rapid succession. “This isn’t part of the game!” Kiyotaka shouted. “Junko’s breaking her own rules!”

                “The rule about exploring the school is specified to be with ‘minimal restrictions’ – that’s worded vaguely enough that she can dole out punishment if anyone gets too close to her!” Mukuro shouted back as she sprinted alongside the prefect. “Besides, Alter Ego isn’t a student – technically she’s not even a _person_!”

                Kiyotaka’s eyes widened. Mukuro was absolutely right. There was nothing in the rules stopping Junko from crushing Alter Ego’s laptop beneath all that construction equipment and destroying the hope of the last six players in the game. And yet . . . what exactly did they all think they were doing? They’d tried and failed so many time to stop something from happening . . . how was this going to be any different?  
                Kiyotaka understood when he saw Sakura holding back Hifumi and Sayaka consoling a completely hysterical Chihiro. Even if there was nothing they could do to save Alter Ego, something had to be done for Chihiro. She must have put so much energy and time into fixing that laptop and programming the AI that seeing it destroyed must have been crushing her.

                Mukuro put a hand on his shoulder. Kiyotaka turned to her, watching her tilt her head in Chihiro’s direction. Kiyotaka swallowed and nodded, taking a deep breath as he jogged towards the programmer. Once she saw him, she broke away from Sayaka and immediately began sobbing into his chest. He held her with one arm and gently stroked the top of her head with his free hand, doing his best to protect her from the impending execution.

                The sound of the laptop being crushed echoed throughout the chamber, and despair fell upon the students.

 

                Celes was too busy screaming in pain to register that two ice cold forms were hovering over her pain wracked body. After being dragged out of the data center and through the fifth floor security gate (which she was _positive_ Leon and Mondo told her they couldn’t pass through, either) she was brought to the dojo, which appeared to be Stupid Fucking Ass Ghost Monster Headquarters and they made her _hurt_. Oh, it hadn’t started out so bad – there were several moments that she felt at peace and relaxed, and she could hear her parents calling for her from the other side . . . and then a pain so intense it would have killed her if she hadn’t already been dead ripped through her body, and she hadn’t stopped screaming for some time.

                “ _Celes! Celes!_ ”

                Celes opened her eyes long enough to see Leon and Mondo hovering over her. She stopped her screaming, but was still cringing in pain, her eyes darting between the two as if she expected them to do something for her. Granted, she wasn’t sure _what_ they would be able to do for her, but something needed to make this pain go away!

                Leon maneuvered himself behind her, placing his hands on her temples. “I know it’s hard to believe right now but the pain _will_ calm down,” he said calmly. “Okay? It’ll feel better eventually – it did for me and Mondo. We promise.” Celes nodded, still clutching at the center of her chest. Mondo was sitting beside her, gingerly patting her head.

                The gambler closed her eyes, clenching them shut tight. “It hurts . . . it’s so bad . . .”

                “We know . . .” said Leon, trying to be as soothing as he could. “They did the same thing to us.”

                “The . . . red . . . string . . . thing?” she asked, struggling to get the words out.

                The biker scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, those things are-”

                “Mondo. Not right now.” Leon said through grit teeth.

                Celes wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but, come to think of it, those two had disappeared on her and Hifumi earlier. “So . . . captured . . . monsters?” she managed to get out. Mondo and Leon slowly nodded. Celes gritted her teeth – that explained a lot. That didn’t answer all of her questions (like the still unknown whereabouts of both Mukuro and Kiyotaka – they probably hadn’t been captured by these things or else they’d be there, too, right?) but it was enough for now.

                The boys stayed quiet for a while, and true to their word the pain did start to subside. Celes forced herself upright into a sitting position. “So . . . what was it you boys wanted to wait to tell me?” The biker and the ball player exchanged pained looks and turned away from her. Celes’ eyes widened. Whatever they knew must have been bad.

                “According to Mondo’s brother, those red strings were our only way to the afterlife,” said Leon.

                Celes’ eyes widened. _That’s why I could hear my parents . . ._ “And without it we can’t move on?”

                “Doesn’t sound that way, no,” said Mondo. “Although . . . I’ve been thinking . . . why didn’t anyone move on _before_ the whole string cutting thing happened? Chihiro and Sayaka didn’t have that happen to them as far as we know and they didn’t move on, either.” He bit his bottom lip. “Though with Mukuro and Kyoudai missing . . . maybe they did?”

                Celes wasn’t too sure about that, though the idea that she’d never get a chance to apologize to Kiyotaka made her feel ill. _I . . . suppose I have all of eternity to come to peace with that . . . but I don’t think I ever will._ The idea that she’d never even get to say she was sorry, something she knew that Mondo and Leon had gotten a chance to do already and she’d already done for Hifumi . . .

                “Well why just them? I mean maybe Mukuro’s being punished for her involvement in all of this but why Kiyotaka? He’s no more-guilty than the rest of us,” said Leon. “Right? I mean yeah he did vote to try and save you even though he knew what would happen but, again, people who _actually_ killed someone are still . . . here.”

                “Y, yeah,” said Mondo. “I don’t see what would keep those two from haunting the school like the rest of us. The only connection they have is that . . . yeah even though I’m not sure if matters anymore I’m not going to say anything about it.”

                “You don’t mean Kiyotaka’s really fucking obvious crush on Mukuro?”

                “You KNEW?!”

                “What part of ‘really fucking obvious’ did you not understand, Mondo?”

                “W, w, well it’s probably not that anyways!” the biker defended, trying to protect his friend’s feelings. He looked a little panicked, like he’d accidentally betrayed his friend’s trust (though Leon was right – his feelings for the soldier were “really fucking obvious”) and was trying to cover his ass. “But other than that, I can’t think of anything, and as far as I know Mukuro never had any feelings for Kyoudai so . . . got me. I don’t think that has anything to do with that.”

                Celes was getting a little annoyed with her companions and decided to look around. The room was dark and chilly, and she could see swirling mist gliding across the floor. She barely recognized the room as the bio lab, but something was . . . different. It was smaller, for one, and one of the walls had sixteen little doors with lights on them – nine were lit with little blue lights. “Can one of you tell me what the hell that business over there is?”

                Mondo and Leon stopped their petty squabble to see what she was referring to. “Oh – it looks like the bio lab has been converted into a morgue.” Leon sighed. “You can, uh, look inside one of the doors to see for yourself but . . . they’re freezers.” He sighed. “I don’t suppose you heard the most recent body discovery announcement but . . . it was Sakura.”

                Celes swallowed, still clutching at her chest. “I know,” she said through gritted teeth. “I saw the beginning of her trial.” She explained her most recent movements to Mondo and Leon, who nodded along. “It was strange – at first it looked like Hiro did it, then it looked like Genocider Syo did it but . . . before I was captured . . . _Hina_ confessed to the killing.” Even though they were all too pale and too see-through for it to matter, she could have sworn she saw the color drain from their faces.

                “No, no not Hina,” said Leon, shaking his head. “That can’t be right! She wouldn’t hurt anyone, least of all Sakura!”

                “Buddy, I hate to break it to you, but all three of us _really_ hurt people we cared about, some more than others.” Celes wanted to snap at Mondo (even if he was right), but by the way his eyes were downcast she realized that last part wasn’t directed at her at all. She held her tongue, recalling how Kiyotaka had reacted to the second trial.

                “Yeah but . . . oh, fucking _hell!_ ” Leon punched a wall in frustration.

                Celes closed her eyes. She concurred.

                The ride back up to the school was uneventful. Chihiro had clung to Kiyotaka for support in the wake of Alter Ego’s destruction, though everyone else had crowded around them to try and offer her comfort. She just looked hollow and numb as it sunk in that her precious creation had been destroyed and, unlike the other victims, Alter Ego didn’t have a soul and wouldn’t be able to come back as a ghost. In a bizarre way, this was the first true “death” since the game had begun.

                They had briefly called for Celes, but there was no answer before they had to go.

                They silently made their way to the gymnasium, unsure of where they wanted to spend the night. At first they had thought to go to the fourth floor to wait for the opening of the fifth floor, but Mukuro advised against it. “As far as we can tell, based on what happened to Sayaka and Taka, that’s the main base of operations for the monsters,” she said as they passed through the door to the gymnasium. “We should establish a base of our own far away from them.”

                “I know this is not a priority but, I must ask: since when has Master Kiyotaka Ishimaru been ‘Taka’?” asked Hifumi, raising his hand as everyone else filtered into the gymnasium. The gathered spirits looked at him in confusion as it dawned on them that this was at least the second time Mukuro had called the prefect by a different name. “He’s always been ‘Kiyotaka’ or ‘Ishimaru’ to everyone except for Master Mondo Oowada and Master Yasuhiro Hagakure. Master Mondo Oowada always calls him ‘Kyoudai’ and Master Yasuhiro Hagakure always called him ‘Ishi’ – where did ‘Taka’ come from?”

                “. . . I never liked ‘Ishi’,” Kiyotaka said with a sigh.

                “Oh. It’s what his family called him,” Sayaka offered.

                Kiyotaka shrugged. “W, well, y, yeah . . . they did . . .”

                “So then why did Mukuro call you that?” asked Sakura, raising an eyebrow.

                Hifumi grinned and began to tap his fingers together. “Indeed, since when did the two of you move onto nicknames?” Kiyotaka looked mortified at the comment, to which Chihiro squeezed him a little tighter. He turned to look at her – she seemed to be coming around a little, but was still visibly upset by the earlier events.

                The soldier was less amused, glaring at the otaku angrily. “Hifumi!”

                Although Kiyotaka was happy to be spared the teasing, he was a little hurt with how quickly Mukuro had shot down the implication. _Not the time or the place, Taka . . . oh great now they’ve got_ **me** _doing it, too._ He felt a tug on his sleeve and saw Chihiro looking up at him, a smile on her face as she tried to wipe away her tears.

“It’s true . . . Sayaka and I talked about it while we were waiting for the fourth floor to open up so we could make our escape and . . . I don’t know, it’s . . . usually it’s just my family that’s ever called me that . . . Chihiro once in a while but that’s about it.”

                All eyes turned to the soldier, who shrugged. “Sorry . . . Chihiro told me you didn’t really use that nickname a whole lot because of formalities or something and I guess I was trying to strike a nerve earlier. . .” She frowned. “I mean . . . even if I shouldn’t have just . . . you still did something kind of stupid. You could have gotten killed or . . .  wait, um, I guess not that but . . . I don’t know, something bad, right?”  
                “It’s okay, I’m not mad about that – I’m not even sure why I never used it,” Kiyotaka admitted.

                “Oh, so should we start calling you ‘Taka’ now?” asked Mukuro.

                The prefect’s face blanked. “Huh?”

                “Actually, didn’t you tell me you were thinking about doing that anyways?” asked Sayaka.

                “W, well . . .”

                “You might as well – it’s changed in the narration, too,” Hifumi said.

                The other ghosts stared at Hifumi in confusion. “What is he talking about?” asked Mukuro.

                “I have no idea,” said Taka.

                Hifumi smirked to himself, seeming to have come to some great realization he was not prepared to share with the others. He rubbed his hands together, laughing to himself in glee and winking towards the audience. The other ghosts silently agreed to ignore this strange new behavior – they had other things to worry about now and the otaku acting strange . . . stranger than usual . . . was not the most immediate concern.

                That honor belonged to the fifth floor.

                “Now that there’s been four trials, Junko will most likely open the top floor of the school to the living students,” said Mukuro. This got everyone’s attention – at least two of their classmates were currently trapped on the fifth floor, and it was the current headquarters of their enemies. “This means that we have a chance to rescue Mondo and Leon. Or rather, _I_ have a chance to-”

                “What the hell are you talking about?! You’re going in _alone!?!_ ” Sayaka asked, getting to her feet and approaching the soldier. Her eyes were brimming with anger, her fists clenched at her sides as she made sure each step was a stomp. “Didn’t we _just_ go through this whole ‘no self-sacrifice bullshit’ thing!? You can’t just go by yourself! That’s insane!”

                Mukuro shook her head and held up a hand. “You didn’t let me finish. We need to do recon first, and I’m the only one who can do that. Once we have a better idea what’s up there we can make a plan with our respective skills and figure out what to do.” She looked around. “Sakura’s a better fighter than me, but she’s no good for recon. Taka was taught how to use a sword by one of the best swordswomen on the planet but we don’t have a sword for him. You did pretty well in archery during gym class but, again, no weapon for you.”

                “And what about Master Chihiro Fujisaki and me!? What are _we_ supposed to do?!” asked Hifumi. “I can fight! I’ve killed a man!” He gave Taka (who was giving him the stink eye) an apologetic look. “Again, I am _really_ sorry about that.” He tried to flex, grunting and groaning as he clutched his bicep. Chihiro tried to join in, though she looked more like a kitten gently playing with a toy mouse than anything resembling an actual threat.

                “You . . . you guys can be our cavalry,” said Mukuro. She didn’t sound very sincere.

“Mukuro is correct – we need information before making a move and she’s the only one capable of getting it,” said Sakura. She crossed her arms and gave the soldier a serious look. “However, I see no reason I cannot accompany you to the fourth floor in the event you need backup. We still don’t know the full extent of their abilities – it would be foolish to go alone.”

                “Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of going all Metal Gear Solid on this mission?” Hifumi asked.

                “And aren’t most metals already solid at room temperature anyways?” Taka added.

                “I think Sakura is insinuating that stealth isn’t a priority if something goes wrong – getting them out of there safely is the priority,” said Sayaka. Taka got the distinct feeling his question was being ignored, so he made a mental note to ask someone about it later. He mentally conceded that Sayaka’s point held water, though – not being seen would be irrelevant if Mukuro was already found out.

                All trains of thought were interrupted by the sound of Monokuma gleefully announcing that nighttime had begun. “The gate won’t be open for another nine hours at the earliest,” Taka said thoughtfully. “I’d say we should spend some time planning, but our resources are limited and even then, I don’t know if we need a full nine hours for that.”

                “It’s not like the fifth floor of this building is all that big,” said Hifumi, scratching his chin. “It’s the dojo, three classrooms, the greenhouse, and the biolab – that’s about it.” He snorted. “Small for the main building of an astute campus like Hope’s Peak. Almost as if the developers didn’t want to make it too big.”

                _He really IS acting very strange tonight, even by Hifumi standards,_ Taka thought to himself.

                “Then the rest of you need to stay here on the first floor – maybe not here in the gym, but someplace where those things won’t find you,” said Mukuro. “Sayaka, Chihiro, Taka, and Hifumi should not follow me and Sakura. We just need to figure out the best place for you to hide.” She closed her eyes and thought. “Someplace central, I think – that way you can easily scatter if it comes to that.”

                “We can’t just do nothing, Mukuro,” said Sayaka.

                “And didn’t we _just_ have a conversation about you not playing the martyr a few paragraphs ago?” Hifumi asked.

                “Hifumi, just how hard did Celes hit you?” asked Sayaka. “I mean I know you’re dead but . . .”

                Taka scratched his chin in thought. “What about Headmaster Kirigiri?”

                The others turned to the prefect in confusion. This was a thought that had occurred to him sometime earlier, just before Alter Ego’s “execution”. Based on Hifumi and Mukuro’s accounts, they knew that the headmaster had been killed before the events of the killing game began. However, if that was the case, why wasn’t his spirit haunting the hall with the rest of Junko’s victims? Taka voiced this theory to the others, who pondered that question.

                “W, well, maybe whatever it is that’s stopping us from passing on didn’t stop Headmaster Kirigiri,” said Chihiro. “Maybe he’s already on the other side and we’re the only ones stuck here. Y, you know, unfinished business and all. Isn’t that the whole reason ghosts are a thing at all? Because we didn’t do everything we wanted to do in life?”

                “Except that I would think that the headmaster would have had ‘unfinished business’ as well – at the bare minimum making sure Kyoko was all right, but more than likely making sure that _all_ of us were all right. That was his goal in turning the school into a shelter, after all – he wanted to protect his remaining students at all costs,” said Sakura.

                “But are we even sure that’s what’s keeping _us_ here?” asked Taka, crossing his arms. “It’s possible that we can’t move on because of ‘unfinished business’ as well, but then there are those creatures on the top floor. It’s possible they have something to do with it as well. In fact, we don’t actually know when they showed up.”

                Mukuro lightly tapped her foot on the floor. “The headmaster died about twelve hours before your memories were erased, and Sayaka, Leon and I all died about five days later. As far as we know the monsters didn’t show up until just before Taka, Hifumi, and Celes died, which was ten days after that. That’s fifteen days we can’t account for the headmaster’s whereabouts.”

                “Mukuro, are you suggesting the monsters did something to the headmaster?” asked Sakura, raising an eyebrow. “For five of those days the headmaster would have been absolutely alone within the confines of the school – anything could have happened to him during that time, and none of us would have been the wiser – not even you or your sister.”

                “We don’t have enough information, and I think we’re raising more questions than we’re answering,” said Mukuro, scratching her chin in thought. “That said, Taka raised a good point – we probably should try to figure out where the headmaster is and what happened to him. So while Sakura and I are doing our thing, the rest of you can check the first three floors for a sign of Headmaster Kirigiri.”

                “But if the monsters already got him . . . there wouldn’t be anything we could do for him, right?” asked Hifumi, his eyes wide in fear. “I, um, I mean, we know what they did to Master Sayaka Maizono and Master Kiyotaka Ishimaru but we don’t know what it _means_.” Sayaka and Taka exchanged a worried glance, each instinctively reaching to where their red strings – whatever they were – had been severed.

                “So that’s it then? While you and Sakura are up on the higher floors, the rest of are going to look for the headmaster,” said Chihiro. Taka looked around as the others slowly nodded in agreement, but he still felt a pit in his stomach. He agreed that the headmaster needed to be found, but what about Mukuro and Sakura? What if they were caught and couldn’t escape?

                Images of Mukuro screaming in pain while those monsters held her down filled his head, and he had to hold in a protest. He knew damn well that those two were the only ones with any business going up to the fifth floor, but the idea that they might not succeed frightened him. As their group started to split off, he couldn’t help but look over his shoulder at the soldier and the fighter.

                Much to his surprise, Mukuro was also looking back at their group, and upon seeing him staring back at her, she flashed him a confident smile, trying to urge him to go with the others. He forced a smile in return, not satisfied that it was enough to keep her out of trouble, or enough to keep him from following them anyways.

 

                Several hours had passed and there was no sign of Hina’s body being brought to the morgue.

                “Shouldn’t the trial be over by now?” asked Leon. Clearly bored, he and Mondo had made a game of spinning some of Leon’s rings like tops back and forth across the floor while they waited. Celes shrugged – the pain from earlier had finally subsided, and she had been quietly watching the boy’s “game” (though she wasn’t sure who was winning – there wasn’t much in terms of established rules, and this annoyed the gambler in her because it made predicting the end result next to impossible).

                Mondo caught one of the rings, set it on the edge, and shot it back towards Leon. “And you’re in a rush to see whatever Monokuma would have done to her body why?” He sighed. “Remember the tank of sharks Hifumi told us was meant for Hina? I don’t want to see what those sharks would have done to Hina because I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have been pretty.”

                “Well, what if there’s nothing to bring back here?” asked Celes.

                “Oh no, if there’s something to be brought back, it’ll get brought back,” said Leon. He and Mondo exchanged a knowing look. “Word to the wise – we figured out which fridge Mondo’s body is in and you do _not_ want to see what’s in there.” Celes suspected that if she were still alive she might have thrown up a little in her mouth.

                “I suspect there are a lot of those I don’t want to look at,” said Celes, making a face.

                “Why is she keeping the bodies anyways? And why all the way up here on the fifth floor?” asked Leon, looking “thoughtfully” at the freezers. “What is she planning on doing with them anyways? Don’t get me wrong I mean . . . this is probably ‘better’ than throwing us in the incinerator or something I’m just surprised – she’s being awfully respectful of our dead bodies, you know?”

                “I don’t know if it’s a ‘respect’ thing – something is not right with her head,” said Mondo. He paused, watching one of Leon’s rings spin to a stop in front of him. “You’re right, though – it would have been a lot easier to burn the bodies afterwards. No mess, no worrying about this complicated storage system . . . what gives?”

                “Maybe she wants to use our bodies for something?” Celes asked absently.

                “I don’t want to know what Junko wants to use our bodies for – at all,” Leon said dryly.

                None of them wanted to address that prospect.

                “Getting back to the original point . . . the trial should be long over by now,” said Celes.  “So . . . why hasn’t there been a new body?” She was staring at the door anxiously. It wasn’t that she wanted Hina to die, or she liked the idea that the swimmer had killed the woman she loved, but something about her body not showing up felt even worse. But why?

                Celes’ felt like something had caught in her throat and she started to scream.

                “Celes! What the hell!?” asked Leon. He and Mondo abandoned their game to go to Celes’ aide, trying to calm the frantic gambler down. The ball player was kneeling in front of her, concern in his eyes and his hands on her shoulders. Celes could tell they hadn’t figured it out yet. “Did you see something? Mondo, did you see what scared her?”

                “I didn’t see anything!”

                “Graduation!” Celes screamed. “Hina graduated!”

                Even though they all knew what “graduation” meant in the killing game, it still took a moment for Celes’ conclusion to sink in. The most likely reason for Hina’s corpse to not come back to the bio lab was that she was alive, and if she was alive . . .

                . . . then Makoto and the others were _dead_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DING DANG DING DING! Authors Announcements!
> 
> Hey guys, so I wanted to take a step back to last chapter as one of the things a lot of folks commented on was Hifumi’s apology to Taka and I wanted to address a few things before diving into this chapter. First, the theme was “stuff fanboys piss and moan about” – you don’t have to agree or disagree with any of them, they’re just things that lots of people complained about. Second, I don’t necessarily agree with everything that Hifumi was complaining about either and in some cases I haven’t seen the anime or played the games in question but since I spend a lot of time on the Internet I heard about them. I haven’t seen Endless Eight, for example, but I know what Endless Eight is and why people hate it. 
> 
> The “Taka” fourth wall break: you guys have no idea how long I’ve been planning on that joke. I really hope it worked. If not . . . gosh is “Taka” easier to type out than “Kiyotaka” over and over again. 
> 
> Song Choice: “They” by Jem. This was a hard chapter to pin a song to, and this is what my beta and I finally settled on after a few choices (including a mindfuck of a music video that we had COMPLETELY different reads on). It’s probably getting harder to choose songs at this point because there are more characters and scenes in play than in previous chapters, which is making things much more complicated, to say the least. 
> 
> Anyways, that’s it for this chapter, see you next time! Hopefully before three months!
> 
> Dixxy


	17. Falling Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mukuro tries to rescue Leon, Mondo, and Celes. The hooded figure attempts to collect more red strings.

Haunted

By Dixxy Mouri

Chapter Sixteen: Falling Down

 

                All hell had broken lose in the biolab.

                “Hina graduated – _Hina GRADUATED!_ ” Celes yelled, no longer keeping anything resembling her composure. “This is . . . this is the worst! Possible! THING! If she graduated, then that means Bitch Face McBalloon Tits killed Makoto and the others! And for all we know she’s going to kill Hina once she’s left the school!” She grabbed the lapels of Mondo’s jacket and started to shake him. “WHAT THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO!”

                Leon calmly raised his hand, trying to intervene. “Hey, uh, Celes? I think you’re forgetting that-“

                “ _What the hell do you expect ME to do!? I’m dead, too, you dumb bitch!_ ”

                “Mondo, dude, not helping, I’m just trying to-“

                Celes shoved her armored finger right between Mondo’s eyes, stopped a few hairs from the bridge of the biker’s nose as the fires of rage filled her eyes. “YOU SAY THAT AGAIN WITH MY FINGER IN YOUR STUPID FUCKING FACE, POMPADOUR PUSSY! I’LL CUT YOU!”

                “YOU LEAVE MY HAIR _OUT OF THIS!_ ”

                “. . . oh for fuck’s sake . . .”

                “That doesn’t matter! This is IT! The game is OVER! Everyone is FUCKED! SHE WON!”

                “DO YOU THINK YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE UPSET ABOUT THAT!? I’M SUPER PISSED OFF, TOO YOU KNOW!”

                “YOU’VE GOT THAT WRONG!”

                Mondo and Celes were shocked to hear what had become something of a “catch phrase” for their dearest Makoto Naegi, only now the words belonged to a different voice. Both paused to stare at Leon in confusion. The ball player was glaring at the both of them, the gambler in particular, as he waited for the two of them to calm down, clenching and unclenching his fists in anger. _At least that got their attention._

                Seeing that the two were no longer frantic, Leon calmed himself, closed his eyes, and folded his arms. “Hina confessed to killing Sakura, remember? If Hina’s the one who did it and she confessed, then there’d be no way she’d get away with graduating, right? There’s no way even _Hiro_ would be dumb enough to let her get away after a confession, right?”

                Leon’s logic held water, and Celes turned away in embarrassment. “I . . . I’m sorry.” She placed the palm of her hand over her face and shook her head in disgrace. “Of course. I’m the one who saw her confess. I should have known she wouldn’t have graduated. I just . . . all I could remember was that Hina was guilty and I . . . I panicked. I’m sorry.” She turned to the biker and bowed. “I’m sorry I made fun of your hair.”

                Mondo scratched the back of his neck. “I’m sorry your hair is stupid, too.”

                “Wait? WHAT!?”

                “FOCUS!”

                Satisfied that the situation had been successfully diffused (and more than a little surprised he’d managed to diffuse the situation _at all_ ), Leon sat on the desk and took a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s think about this for a second. A body hasn’t been brought back here, but Hina confessed to killing Sakura. So, why hasn’t her body been brought back here?”

                The ghosts thought about this for a few moments before Mondo raised a possibility. “Well, I mean, it’s Hina we’re talking about, right? I mean she’s all happy and sunshine and donuts and stuff all the time, so . . . maybe they just didn’t believe her and did the sensible thing by voting for Byakuya instead because he’s being a total bag of dicks?”

                Celes and Leon thought about this possibility. It was true – it was pretty hard to swallow the idea that Hina was capable of murder, and it was possible that everyone would have instead tried to vote for Byakuya or Toko instead. “Yes, but . . . that still doesn’t explain the lack of bodies. Even if Hina’s character saved her from the vote, then why aren’t the other bodies here?”

                “Because Hina didn’t kill Sakura.”

                The three ghosts were startled by the presence of a fourth voice, especially when there wasn’t a face to go with it. “AH! GHOST!” Leon yelled.

                “Idiot, _we’re_ ghosts!” said Mondo.

                “Although whoever it is must also be a ghost, too, if they were able to hear us,” said Celes, walking towards the door and kneeling down. Still ashamed at his most recent outburst, Leon followed Mondo to the door to see who it was, but it didn’t take long for the three of them to get very, very angry with the spirit on the other side.

                “It’s me – Mukuro.”       

 

                Mukuro winced as an unintelligible assault of threats, swears, and venom spewed from the other side of the bio lab. She should have expected that, especially considering both Mondo _and_ Celes were on the other side of that door (although, according to Sayaka, Leon didn’t have the cleanest of mouths, either). She couldn’t blame them, of course – despite what Taka and the others had to say on the matter, she couldn’t say she didn’t deserve at least this.

                Those three in particular, she realized, had been manipulated by her sister into becoming killers. Even taking into account the . . . interesting company Celes was known to keep thanks to the nature of her talents and its legality (or rather, its lack thereof) or just the very nature of Mondo’s talent, she really didn’t think any of her classmates would have done such a thing if not pushed. Junko insisted that if their classmates _truly_ weren’t capable of such atrocities she wouldn’t have even bothered to have them play, convinced that at least some of them had a dark streak capable of murder, and the three on the other side of the door had proved her sister right.

                At least, that was probably what Junko thought. Mukuro had seen a lot of horrible things during her time as a mercenary and had seen first-hand what people were capable of when pushed beyond their limits. She’d seen young mothers slaughter mercenaries twice their size when their children had been hurt or killed. She’d seen old men put bullets through the heads of their wives of fifty years to save them from the pain of whatever someone less savory might do to them. She couldn’t imagine those things would have happened had those young women and old men been tangled in webs of despair, and she knew that was true of the three currently imprisoned. Leon had _adored_ Sayaka in life and was otherwise not the type to resort to violence – oh, sure, he was the type to mouth-off and that sometimes didn’t end well for him, but he wasn’t the violent type at all. Mondo was a thug, sure, and he and his gang had seen a _lot_ of fights, but other than the accident that killed the elder Oowada brother they hadn’t actually killed anyone, and they sometimes stopped violent crimes from happening (the Crazy Diamonds in particular didn’t like violence against women). And sure Celes had a fiery temper but that was usually as far as it went with her – she’d yell and scream, maybe throw something, and then she would retreat to her dorm room for a cup of tea and Hifumi would calm her down because he was the only one who was either brave or stupid (horny?) enough to deal with her when she was that mad. 

                Although, remembering that they might not be alone, she tried to hush them after several seconds. There were exactly zero places to hide in that hallway and if anything came to investigate the noise, she’d be in huge trouble. “You want those things to come back here?” she hissed. The yells dulled to a chatter before all was quiet, and all parties waited several moments before continuing. “So, you guys know Sakura’s dead.”

                “Yeah,” came the voice of Mondo, “her body was brought back here a while ago.”

                “But I saw Hina confess to the killing – how is she possibly not guilty?” Celes inquired.

                Mukuro bit her bottom lip – this wasn’t going to be easy. “Because you don’t have the whole story.” Mukuro explained that the most recent motive was exposing Sakura as the mole, which led to unrest among the (at the time) seven survivors. “Sakura couldn’t stand to see everyone fighting over her and took a desperate measure to calm everyone down . . .” Mukuro had to pause to compose herself as the memories of Sakura’s suicide haunted her memories, the whole terrible scene unfolding before her eyes for the umpteenth time since it had happened.

                There was silence on the other side of the door before Leon quietly spoke up. “She . . . didn’t.”

                Mukuro solemnly nodded. It took her a moment to realize they couldn’t see her and she voiced confirmation. “Y, yeah. That’s what happened.” She didn’t feel the need to elaborate and no one on the other side asked for more details.

                “. . . oh God . . .” Celes said incredulously.

                “Wait, wait, wait, if Sakura . . . then why the hell did Hina confess?! That doesn’t make sense!”

                Mukuro told them about what had happened to Sakura’s suicide note, and that Hina’s plan was to get _all_ of the survivors killed. She filled them in on everything from the trial, including Alter Ego’s execution, and then transitioned into letting them know about what had happened to Taka, knowing that Mondo would have been worried.

                His reaction what not what she had planned.

                The sound of his fists slamming into the door took Mukuro by surprise. “No! Fucking hell! Are you telling me they got him, too!? They cut his string, too!? No, no, _no! That can’t be! He didn’t deserve that! Those assholes!_ ”

                Mukuro was a little taken back. “It’s fine, he and Sayaka were-“

                “Wait, Sayaka _too!?_ ” Leon cried, joining Mondo in panic. “Oh God, oh God, _no!_ ”

                _They know something about the red strings . . ._ Mukuro realized. Keeping one eye on the other end of the hall in case she needed to make a run for it, she pressed for more information. “Both of you, calm down – do you know what the red strings are? All Taka and Sayaka were able to tell us was that getting them cut hurt and that the monsters locked them up after – do you know what any of that actually means?”

                The prisoners were quiet for several moments before Mondo spoke up. “I heard my brother’s voice before mine was cut . . . he said it was like a red string of fate and . . . it’s the only way we can get to the afterlife,” he said. “If what he said was true . . . if I wasn’t just hearing things . . . then there’s no way for anyone who’s had their string cut to move on.”

                “How can you be so sure? No one’s . . . oh my God,” Mukuro’s eyes widened as things started to piece together. Sayaka and Taka had told her that before they got their strings cut, they could hear the voices of the people they cared about who had died, but they couldn’t see them – it kind of made sense that they were on the other side or Heaven or Nirvana or something like that. And then when the string was cut, the voices suddenly disappeared.

                She thought back to her encounter with Taka outside the physics lab. She’d been too upset over everything that had happened to do anything but make herself scarce as quickly as possible, and it wasn’t long after that he’d been taken by those horrible monsters. Making matters worse, it was the search for Taka that led to the group splitting up and Sayaka’s capture, as well as Leon, Mondo, Hifumi, and Celes being trapped in the courthouse. If she had just stayed with Taka and faced up to what she had done, maybe none of this would have happened.

                Mukuro could hear her sister’s laughter echoing in the back of her head. Killing their classmates was one thing, but trapping them between life and death for all eternity? That was a despair even Junko couldn’t have predicted . . . a despair she could only dream of . . . she would have been euphoric at the idea of being in this situation . . .

                . . . and it all made Mukuro feel ill. _My fault . . . my fault . . . my fault. . ._

“So then what exactly are you doing here?” Celes’ voice snapped Mukuro back to attention. “Why are you here? To gloat? To apologize? Well? Spit it out!” Mukuro pulled herself to her feet. There were certain things she didn’t want to say (like Sakura’s current position on the fourth floor) but she did want to at least let them know they weren’t being given up on.

                “What happened when Sakura’s body was brought into the bio lab? According to Taka and Sayaka, they were able to escape when the bodies from the third incident were brought here. Were you unable to escape at that time?” she asked.

                “Yeah – one of the monsters was present at the time and Mondo and I wouldn’t have been able to get past it,” said Leon. “Celes was brought later.” He yelped. “Does that mean we’re trapped in the bio lab unless there’s another killing!? I don’t want to be trapped in here but I don’t want to see any more bodies!”

                “Not even Junko’s?” asked Celes. “I wouldn’t mind seeing hers.”

                Mukuro felt mixed about that but decided to keep her mouth shut. She didn’t even want any of them to apologize for the possible insensitivity of the comment, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to agree with them yet, either. She was, after all, her little sister . . . even if she had planned to betray her from the start . . .

                Either way, she had good intel from this. The monsters had obviously learned from what happened with Sayaka and Taka that when a body was brought to the morgue, there was an opening for an escape, so they needed to up security at that time. Furthermore, the bio lab door was still locked – Makoto and some of the other students had tried to get in earlier as part of their investigation of the new floor, but Junko hadn’t opened it yet – probably to prevent anyone from discovering “Junko Enoshima” wasn’t the real Junko Enoshima.

                Still, there had to be some way to get them all out of there – but what, exactly?

                That was when she heard a horrible screeching sound from the hall behind her.

                “Shit, they’re back!” Leon cried.

                Mukuro turned to look down the hall and paled – four of the despair monsters and the hooded one that Taka and Sayaka had told her about. The hooded one was carrying the cutlass they had described, and it was probably after more red strings, hers included – Chihiro, Sakura, and Hifumi were all in danger, and she needed to find a way to fix Taka and the others as well. But in order to do that, she had _five_ of these things to try and fight off first.

                Mukuro turned to face the monsters – the four half-and-half monsters were advancing

, while the one in the hood had stayed put. Mukuro drew her knives, brandishing one in each hand as she prepared to go on the attack. She waited, watching their every move until she saw a moment to strike. Now that she knew what was at stake, she had to be careful.

                _Even if I don’t care about my own afterlife, I needed to protect everyone else’s chance at peace!_

Mukuro saw her opening and charged forward, quickly dropping into a slide at the last moment to leave disabling gashes on the legs of two of the monsters – destroying them all right away wasn’t an option, so she needed to weaken them first to make them more manageable. She spun and skidded to a halt, taking only a moment to check on the status of their leader. He was moving away from the biolab hallway, and Mukuro felt something catch in her throat – was he headed for Sakura?

                That was bad – he was the one who did the actual string cutting, and all Sakura knew was that it hurt like hell – she didn’t know the other consequences. Mukuro swore under her breath as she went in for another strike. The two she’d already cut were howling in pain, and their buddies were now angry and preparing a more aggressive assault. She effortlessly dodged their attempts to grab her before turning and stabbing them in the backs. They screeched and writhed in pain as she withdrew the blades, falling to the floor and hitting it with a dull pair of “thuds”.

                “Mukuro! What’s going on out there?!” Leon yelled.

                “I’m taking care of it!” she said. The pair she’d gotten in the legs were now crawling towards her – taking them out would be almost too easy. She ran at them, knives brandished before she leapt into the air, up and over, and threw her knives at their necks, landing both blades where their spines should have been. All four of them had been neutralized and she was free to go after their leader, and maybe some more answers. “Hold on a little longer!” she called out over her shoulder as she exited the bio lab hallway and started looking for the hooded figure.

                _Don’t you dare . . . don’t you DARE hurt any of them!_ Mukuro thought to herself as she frantically began to look for the hooded figure. She had to find it before it found Sakura . . . she wasn’t going to repeat the same mistake she’d made before, and she was going to fix everything! She had no idea how, she just knew that there had to be a way and she didn’t care how long it took!

                She rounded the corner and saw, much to her horror, Sakura was already engaged in battle with the hooded figure. She was holding back the blade with her bare hands, but just barely – the martial artist was clearly struggling to keep her opponent at bay, and Mukuro felt her stomach sink. _No! NO!_ “Sakura!” she cried out. The ogre ignored her, focused intently on her battle with the hooded figure.

                Mukuro gripped her knives tightly and lunged forward, only to find her arms and legs were being held back by more of the half-and-half monsters. She looked back at them in fear and panic, all the while trying to struggle to fear herself. They just stared at her with those empty smiles, holding her down as if it were nothing.

                _This can’t be . . . did we really fail this badly!?_ Despite knowing how the others felt about it, Mukuro really didn’t care what happened to her as long as she got the others out of this situation. However, she knew that if her string was cut, she would be thrown into the bio lab and, even worse, she might be disarmed. If that happened, she wouldn’t be able to protect the others, and _that_ was a big problem.

                Mukuro continued to struggle, never taking her eyes off Sakura as she did. The fight was going badly. Even as fast and as strong as Sakura was, the hooded creature was faster and stronger, deftly fighting her with its free hand and its sword. She was clearly on the defensive, barely blocking every assault coming her way.

                The hooded figure managed to push her back and created an opening. It reached forward to her chest and pulled back, causing the red string to appear . . . and Sakura’s body went limp. Mukuro started to scream at the top of her lungs, trying to get Sakura to fight back or try to break free to stop what she knew was about to happen. “ _SAKURA! SAKURA!”_

                Just as Mukuro was finally able to loosen the grip of her captors and break away, the hooded figure severed Sakura’s only chance to get to the other side. She let out a massive howl and fell to the ground, clutching at her chest as she screamed in agony, the likes of which Mukuro had never heard before.

 

                “What’s happening out there!? Who screamed!?” Celes cried.

                All three of the imprisoned ghosts were frantically pounding at the door of the biolab, trying to find a way out. Someone had screamed, and the agony woven into that scream could only mean one thing in their minds – someone’s string was cut, and more of their friends were probably in danger, and there wasn’t anything they could do to stop it.

                “Come on! Let us through!” Leon yelled, slamming his shoulder repeatedly into the door.

                “YOU FUCKERS! I’M GONNA BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF YOU WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE!”

                But for all of their yelling and crying, nothing happened. The door wouldn’t budge, and they were left to their despair.

 

                “YOU BASTARD!” Mukuro screamed, throwing one of her knives at the creature in rage. It turned its head towards her and held up its free hand, effortlessly catching the knife and letting it drop to the ground with a clatter. That startled her for a moment, but she shook it off seconds later and went in for another attack.

                The hooded figure seemed surprised that she was willing to fight him, and made a sound that resembled a condescending laughter as it readied itself for its next opponent. Mukuro ran at him, aiming her knife at his head. Her opponent fell for the bluff, blocking with his sword high and giving Mukuro a chance to retrieve her second knife as she dipped down and rolled behind it. Now armed with both weapons again, she was in that much better shape to attack this thing.

                She tried to take it out from behind but to no avail – it effortlessly twirled out of the way, and Mukuro had to jump up and out of the way to avoid being tripped up by its robes. _How does it even_

                Mukuro froze in her tracks, getting a good look at the inside of its hood and the nothingness within.

                _Did I get careless . . . or is this thing really that much stronger than me or Sakura?_ Mukuro clutched her other knife tightly, not sure what to do here. It had already beaten Sakura without much problem, and even if she herself was the Super High School Level Soldier, she didn’t have the arsenal she would have preferred at her disposal for an enemy like this. She could tell she was outclassed, and she felt her legs weaken as she fell to her knees.

                The creature approached, and Mukuro continued to stare into the hood. There was nothing there – not even a face cloaked in darkness, this was _nothing_. Mukuro used to believe she feared nothing, and now it seemed that she was literally afraid of _this_ nothing, this emptiness, this lack of anything was terrifying.

                She didn’t know what to do.

                The hooded creature extended its hand towards her, and Mukuro braced herself for the worst.

                “GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!”

                Out of nowhere, Taka came barreling towards the hooded creature, taking it by surprise before he tackled it to the ground. Mukuro stared at the prefect in shock, not sure if she should thank him or hit him. She wanted to yell at him for coming up to the fifth floor all alone when she saw Sayaka was hovering over Sakura, asking her if she was all right. Chihiro and Hifumi were at the top of the stair well, watching the proceedings play out in dumbstruck horror.

                _Oh good, now they’ve ALL caught Taka’s stupid._

                The situation was far from ideal, but Mukuro saw things she could do – somewhat. “Chihiro! Hifumi! You two need to get out of here immediately!” Mukuro screamed. “That thing will be after the two of you next!” Hifumi shrieked in response and grabbed Chihiro before bolting down the stairs quite a bit faster than she would have expected him to be capable of. Mukuro turned to Sayaka and saw she had already gotten Sakura’s arm over her shoulder and was helping her get to the stairs. They exchanged a knowing look – the pop idol would take care of the martial artist and Mukuro was going to take care of the stupid hall monitor.

                Mukuro got to her feet, feeling a little wobblier than she would have liked. Taka was hanging onto the back of the hooded creature, which was thrashing about as it tried to throw him off. “Taka, what the hell are you doing!?” she yelled. This got both his and the hood figure’s attention, leading to the hall monitor crying out for her.

                “Mukuro, run!”

                “TAKA, SERIOUSLY, STOP DOING THIS!”

                The hooded creature made a low bellowing noise and managed to throw Taka off before advancing towards Mukuro again. She held her remaining knife in front of her, reminding herself that she needed to stay safe, even if it was just long enough to find out what to do about everyone else. Even if she couldn’t see its face . . . if it even had a face . . . she could tell it was exuding anger.

                The creature lunged for her, and Mukuro lunged for it, letting out a battle cry in her wake.

                It had been a dumb idea.

                The creature was too fast, impossibly fast, and for only the second time since becoming a soldier, she found herself wounded. Mukuro had tried to dodge out of the way of the blade, but it sliced through her thigh, leaving a large, unsightly gash on the outside of her leg. She slumped to the ground, too injured to move. She snarled, determined not to let it end like this.

                It didn’t.

                Taka had been given enough time to get back up on his feet and get involved, and this time something unexplainable happened. As soon as the hall monitor’s hand grasped the wrist of the hooded figure, it froze before slowly slumping to the ground, unmoving. The ghosts froze themselves, unsure of what had just happened. The hooded figure’s hands and robe somehow looked paler than it had before, and while it definitely wasn’t truly defeated, it had definitely lost this round.

                “Taka . . . what did you just do to that thing?” Mukuro asked. She gasped. “ _Taka!_ ”

                Taka was staring at his hands, which were giving off a strange, smoky black aura, as was the rest of his body. He looked at her in a panic, clearly terrified but not sure what was going on. Mukuro stared at him in horror and confusion – neither one of them had any idea what had suddenly happened to Taka or why the hooded creature had collapsed.

                Mukuro tried to get to her feet to help him but winced in pain – she’d forgotten about her injury and realized that, even if this _wasn’t_ a body in the traditional sense, she could apparently sustain damage. Taka looked at her in worry like he wanted to help her, but hesitated when he saw his hands again. _He’s afraid to touch me – he doesn’t know what that is, either._

                “Mukuro . . . what am I supposed to do?” he asked.

                “I . . . I don’t know . . . but . . . this is just like what happened to Celes and Mondo . . .” That was true . . . somewhat. According to Hifumi, Mondo and Celes had each very briefly had some sort of “power” that, as far as anyone could tell, had someone to do with how they died. This, it seemed, was the same phenomenon, but . . . it was different.   _Taka died from blunt force trauma to the head . . . how does this have_ anything _to do with that? Actually, never mind the how –_ WHAT _did he even_ DO _to that thing and_ HOW _does it have_ ANYTHING _to do with that!?_

                “Do you mean what Hifumi was talking about?” asked Taka.

                The soldier nodded slowly – Taka was probably thinking something along the same lines and probably just needed to confirm with someone, anyone, that at least one part of it made any kind of sense. “Yeah, that,” she said. “He said it only happened once and then in went away, but . . . this is . . .” Mukuro’s eyes widened and she pointed behind him to where the hooded figure was moving.  “He’s getting back up!” Taka turned around and made an . . . interesting sound as he watched the creature push itself up onto the heels of its palms and point where its face should have been in their direction.

                “Time to go!” Taka said, swiftly hoisting Mukuro up into his arms and making a mad dash towards the stairs. The soldier was a bit dumbstruck by the display – this wasn’t usually how things played out when she was involved in any kind of rescue operation . . . although to be fair, usually she wasn’t the one being rescued. Resigning herself to her predicament, she wrapped her arms around his neck for support (though it took more effort than it should have – she suddenly felt very lethargic, probably from her injured leg, she thought) and kept an eye out for what was behind them.

                They reached the stairs and as they began to descend, she was surprised to see that, at least so far, they weren’t being pursued. Maybe the hooded creature was more injured than they thought, but Mukuro was in no shape to investigate any further and she wasn’t about to put anyone else at risk. They would need to find another way to get Leon, Mondo, and Celes out of the bio lab after they had a chance to regroup.

                But for that moment, their only option was to retreat. Not only was Mukuro unable to fight, but so was Sakura. Stranger still, Taka was exhibiting odd powers, too . . . but what were they? _Mondo and Celes’ powers had to do with how they died but Taka died from a blow to the head . . . what does that have to do with whatever he did to the hooded creature?_ It didn’t make any sense – if a hammer was what killed Taka, what did the black smoke have to do with that?

                Mukuro looked up as Taka in concern – he was looking around the fourth floor, probably trying to find a place to hide. It seemed as if whatever he had done was gone – no more black smoke, that was for sure – but that only meant she had no way to re-examine him to try and figure out what was going on with him, or use that to figure out what, if anything, might happen to the others.

                But she was too tired to piece it together – she wasn’t sleepy, just tired, as if all the energy had been drained out of her. Mukuro knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep, but she definitely needed rest. Trusting that Taka would take her someplace safe to recover, she rested her head against his and closed her eyes, hoping that things would go better when they were ready to try again.

                _Hope, huh? Junko would be so disappointed if she knew that._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DING DANG DING DONG! Author’s Announcements!
> 
> So I got various feedback last chapter, and most people commented on the fourth wall humor if they commented. While at least one person liked it since Ibuki would have liked it (and yeah she probably would have), not everyone was as pleased. In short, I agree that I went a bit overboard with the fourth wall humor. It’s still something I want to tap into but I’ll be more discerning with my use of it going forward. Cool? Cool.
> 
> Song Choice: “Falling Down” by Oasis. Fun fact: this one is the (original) opening for Eden of the East. And yeah this is where I know the song from. 
> 
> Dixxy


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